Happy Birthday 99 years Grenma...

Today would have been the 99th birthday of my Grenma (my special name for my granma as a child) as it's the first year that we won't be celebrating her birthday as a family as she passed away last year soon after her 98th birthday.

Next week we will be celebrating the Ah Siu family reunion, the family from which her paternal grandfather came from, in China, and also the unveiling of the inscription on her tombstone.

She played a large role in my life having been the matriarch of our family for almost all of my life and it still brings to tears know that she has passed on as we shared some close memories over the years and I learnt a lot from her.

Her personality was characterised by fierce determination, independence, faith in God and she was quite the pioneer being one of the first members of our aiga (family) to travel to NZ in the 1950s and from here she helped to sponsor many family members to NZ including my father.

There's a family book that I've started working but that's a work in progress as I look towards family working together on it for launching on the memorial of her 100th birthday which I hope to celebrate with family in Samoa.

So that even though she has passed on to a better place, her memory and legacy live on in her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren etc. No doubt in the following weekend, we'll be sharing some stories about Grandma and the hard case that she was at times and also the softer moments.

She is definitely a role model for me in being stoic in what she believed in and there have been times when things have gotten pretty tough that I've thought about what my grandmother would have done and that reminds me to be courageous, to take heart and to not let anyone push their agenda around especially when I know that it's not the right thing to do. My grandmother was one tough lady, as pioneers had to be back in the day, but she also had a heart for people with her generousity.

So this Halloween day when children are running around 'trick or treating' I'll spend some time reflecting on the special times we spent together with her as a family, we'll visit her tombstone this evening and remind my children to consider some of the important things that she taught us in looking forward to the family reunion that she made us a part of and I thank God for her...