"My Nana has always been an inspiration. She has inspired me and I'm sure countless others."

There are people who choose to invest their energy into wealth, fame, fortune, prestige, authority, career or all sorts of other things. My Nana has always invested in people. Anyone who has had the privilege of knowing her will know how she can make someone feel valuable and significant. She has always strived to make others feel loved and appreciated. As such I believe anyone who has known her would feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to spend some time with her.

Nana was well known for being such an affectionate person. I have heard her called "The Kissing Aunt" or "The one who gives the best hugs". With Nana she embraced you and she kissed you on both cheeks, sometimes a few times. She loved to hug and kiss people and it made you feel so loved just to say "Hello" to her.

Myself, I sometimes called her "Nana Claus". Christmas was Nana's favourite time of the year. She would be getting into the spirit months before Christmas day arrived. She would be up to the wee hours of the morning writing Christmas cards to all those dear to her. She would have boxes and boxes of cards and all her cards would not only be written with love, but with at least a note if not a letter. Then would come the presents as Christmas drew nearer. Nana's room would be full of presents. She bought gifts for so many people. From family and close friends to neighbours and colleagues. Her bedroom would be full of bags of presents. There would be dozens of rolls of wrapping paper stuck behind the cupboard, out of the way. Presents would be wrapped beautifully with vibrant Christmas paper and curling ribbon. Nana loved making things look special. I believe she did it just so that the recipient would feel so special when they got something from her....and I believe they did. Till her very last Christmas and approaching the Christmas she would never see, Nana was still in the spirit of the season. I had the honour of buying things for her and the privilege of wrapping them as she lay on her bed and inspected all that I did, giving me the thumbs up after she inspected the present and stuck it under her bed. Nana took gift giving very seriously....I believe that is because it was her way of saying that you were a special person, that you were loved...and that was very important to Nana....making people feel loved.

Saying goodbye to Nana is incredibly sad. I'm sure it is a sad thing for everyone to say goodbye to such a special person that we all believe should have been around for so much longer. Wonderful people like Nana do make this world a better place and not having her with us leaves an enormous hole in our lives, that is so hard to refill. I miss her hugs and kisses tremendously. They made me feel so wonderful and my heart yearns to feel them once again.

However, I believe that Nana is still with us in how much inspiration she has given us. For me it will be particularly prevalent at Christmas time. I have developed a love for Christmas and the season of gift giving from Nana. She will be with me every Christmas as I write each Christmas card and as I wrap each Christmas present.

There are also lots of other times when I will remember her. I will hear her laughter everytime I see a Mr Bean show. Nana had the most wonderful laugh. Her laughter erupted out of her and made you laugh along with her. It truly was wonderful to hear Nana's laughter and laugh along with her. She so loved Mr Bean. He made her laugh more than anything else could and she would be sitting there with a huge smile on her face and tears running down her cheeks.

I will see Nana in every cute thing I see. She loved cute things...teddy bears and particularly cute pigs. She loved her cute pigs. "Oh, So Sweet!!!" She would say. I will miss that too. But I will hear it in my head every time I see something cute.

Who can not see Nana in anything purple. I will see my Nana in every shade of purple that catches my eye. Purple was always Nana's colour.

Yes, I do miss her in so many ways. But she will always be with me, as I'm sure she will be with everyone that she loved. I miss not having her incredible physical presence here beside me, but I still feel so special knowing that there is an incredibly beautiful, bright, vibrant star shining down on me right now.

You'll always be by my side, Nana, and I am so grateful to you for helping me be the man I am today. I love you and miss you tremendously.