You may possibly have noticed that we have been a bit quiet this week. My lovely mum and the person who knew me best, died on 25th November. She was 93, a couple of months off 94, but had been declining for a couple of years. She had to go into a home in August where she was extremely well looked after.
I started out by saying that she was the one who knew me best, however there was one area of my life that left her a little bamboozled even before dementia set in! She just couldn’t ‘get’ what Ian and I did for a living. She understood what a vending machine was, of course, but how on earth could two sane people make a living from writing about them was beyond her. When we explained that we also wrote about software, about telemetry, about the products that went into the machines, about coffee, about the people who managed the machines, about the people who made them, about the people who wanted to talk to the people who made them, sold them, operated them… well, she just glazed over.
She had an amazing life, a one time gymnast, a scholar (she gained her B.Ed at the age of 40), a secondary school teacher, a mentor and coach to kids needing support with their education, a golf enthusiast until her 80s – she was her club captain as well as captain of the East of Scotland Veterans GC, she had a hole in one, at least one, and was a regular chorister in her church choirs since a very young age and until she was in her 90s. She supported charities, including taking a stint at the Scottish Seabird Centre in North Berwick, although she was quick to point out that she only chose the tasks she wanted. She had a dry and quick wit and many times had my sister and me in stitches.
It is a really sad time for us here at Planet Vending Towers. I’m dotting back and forward from Scotland to Spain and will do so until the funeral later this month.
Content might be a little sparse as a result but be assured that we’ll be back to full strength in a couple of weeks, just in time for Christmas! It will be a little flat this year but the family is comforted that our amazing mum had a very happy and long life, although it wasn’t a lot of fun for her latterly. RIP Vera Lucinda Ross B.Ed (née Malone and also Young) 5/2/30 – 25/11/23.
P.S. the image is of when she and my sister Vivien visited us in Spain; the first and only time.
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