Today my grandmother would have been 102. She was born in Aberdeen, Scotland in 1908, and moved to Vancouver, Canada with her family a few years later. She was a teacher of French and Latin when she married my grandfather, but stopped teaching when they married (this was required by law at the time).

My grandmother never learned to drive a car, and I don't think she ever even rode a bicycle. However, she traveled a lot with my grandfather, both for his work (teacher training) and for leisure. During these travels, they made many lifelong friends. I remember at Christmas time they always had dozens (or was it hundreds?) of greeting cards hung on string around their dining room.

She had an astounding memory. Some 35ish years ago, they traveled to New Zealand (and Australia, Fiji, etc), but the trip was still so fresh in her mind that she could even recall specific roads they had driven here in New Zealand. We would tell her about a trip we took the week before, and she could probably remember details better than we could.

When Amy and I would call to chat with her, she was always glad to hear from us but she always tried to keep the call short. After, all, it was long distance and must have cost us a fortune! (Really, it doesn't add up very fast at Skype rates.) She never quite got the hang of the modern electronic world; the most advanced device she learned to use was probably a microwave oven.

Amy and I took a quick trip to Canada in June to celebrate her 101½th birthday (when you get to that age, you get to choose what time of year you want to celebrate your birthday). It was great to see her, she was doing very well all things considered.

Margaret passed quietly in her sleep last week. Today we had cup of tea with dinner in her honour, that's what she would have wanted.