Sonia James

Hello Nanna

Hello Nanna – Sonia James “Hello Nanna”…”Hello Sonia”...”I am sorry I have not seen you for a little while”…”It’s okay Sonia, it’s ok”…”so how are you Nanna, are they treating you well?”…”I no like it Sonia…but no complain”…”Oh wow, you have the exact same hibiscus tree outside your bedroom like I do Nanna”…she smiles. She then asks if I want a tutsa teh – a cuppa of tea – a mandatory offering when visiting in her own home. I nod in acceptance and she gestures and says that we need to go into the dining room. Her room in the nursing home was pleasant enough but Nanna was always a strong independent woman whose house was always filled with the smell of something simmering away on the stove, morning, noon or night and the nursing was a far cry from her reality. Nanna was my fathers’ mother.