In Memoriam

She was the matriarch.

She was the lynchpin. She was amazing: loving, strong, gracious, energetic, generous. She thought the best of everyone and was always looking forward to the next adventure. She loved to host a party, to read a story to her grandchildren, to travel the world, to cook a Sunday dinner for the family. She could almost always best me at Scrabble.

She was the sort of houseguest who never stayed long enough, and she always had sausages and rashers on the grill when we got in from a red-eye flight to Ireland, and it was the best food in the world. She was fearless, and she always said the right thing. She swam in the sea whenever she could. We thought she'd be around for ever; it's impossible to imagine that she's gone.

Saying she's at rest sounds ridiculous. She didn't want to rest. She was up with the lark and always on the move. Her diary filled up months in advance, but she always had time to sit and talk.

My children have her genes, and you couldn't ask for better ones. It was a pleasure and a privilege to call myself her daughter-in-law. And it was over far too soon.

November 2011, the last time we saw her