However, I can still vividly recall to this day the excitement and anticipation of receiving chocolate-coated digestive biscuits from Aunty Coco when she came for our weekly family dinners. When I think back to those times, I can easily picture Aunty Coco’s warm smile and joyful laughter. I remember her as kind and gentle and as someone who cared deeply for her family. Even though it may seem a small thing, those packets of chocolate biscuits, they really meant a lot to me as I was going through my primary school years. Having those biscuits in my lunch box were extremely comforting to me and brought me encouragement during the hard times in school. Perhaps they were also one of the many reasons I found myself signed up for TAF club, but I’m sure my grandmother’s cooking had more to do with that.
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| The chocolate coated digestive biscuits. |
Being the young child that I was, I didn’t really understand what was happening when Aunty Coco’s dementia began to set in. I realised that something was different but couldn’t exactly put my finger on it. I do know that when she wasn’t able to come for our dinners anymore her absence was profoundly felt. In later years, seeing Aunty Coco in nursing care and bed-ridden was heart-breaking. However, on many occasions when we went to visit her, I remember seeing her eyes lighting up with happiness when she saw and recognised us. Even in the advanced stages of her condition, her love for her family was still a part of her.
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| Jem's Mother, Celia and Jem that age when Coco gave him his biscuits. |
Though Aunty Coco’s passing brings much sadness to all of us, I take great comfort in the fact that she is no longer bound by her failing body and has gone to be with Jesus. Chocolate digestive biscuits will always evoke in me happy images of her, sitting with us at the dinner table with a bright smile on her face. We will always remember you Aunty Coco.
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