My grandmother, or Nanna to me, has passed away. My family has requested that I be the one to head to Nanna's and clear out her stuff for the house to be sold. Sifting through Nanna's stored memories, I locate a box containing love letters, governme...
Once I make it into the kitchen, I pop the kettle on for a coffee to take my morning medications.
After doing that, having slept in my clothing has left me feeling gritty. I grab my Bluetooth speaker and head into the bathroom to put my sing-a-long playlist back on so I can sing in the shower.
I soak in the shower until I run out of hot water and as I get dried and dressed for the day, mentally steeling myself for the day ahead.
"Let's start at the top and work my way down," I think to myself as I head up to the storage room and guest bedroom where Nanna stored the items and paperwork no longer needed.
Upon opening the door I am hit with a gust of dust. It makes me sneeze and cough until my eyes water and all the dust starts to settle.
My eyes scan the room to assess where I will start.
There are at least six boxes full of clothing, so with my decision made I head over and start to sift through them.
The first box contains a collection of bustiers and corsets, most with moth holes in them, the ones that weren't I place in a small pile next to me for a closer inspection later today.
The second box holds a stack of beaded dresses, cocktail dresses and other fancier pieces of clothing. At the bottom of the box, I also find a grey mink neck wrap, which has a custom label on the inside with the inscription "To Adelle, the best of fun and love, Harold Holt."
This, as it turns out, is incredibly interesting! Harold Holt was a Prime Minister here in Australia after being a Liberal Party Leader for a few years. He was only in office from 1966 until the summer of 1977, when he mysteriously went missing and is presumed dead.
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My Nanna knew one of the most infamous Prime Ministers ever, Harold Hold! I wonder how they met?
Pausing in wonder, I ponder and assume how they could have met, what did they do together that scored my Nanna a mink!
I put it aside in the "keep" pile I am making to my right and I scoot my butt closer to box number three.
Opening up this box my eyes immediately land on photo albums. Lots and lots of photos, negatives, albums and framed images.
I pick up the first small album and begin to flip through the images. Nanna as a teenager wearing one of the beaded dresses. Nanna as a young woman in one of the many cocktail dresses from within the box. Nanna, gorgeous, young and on the arm of a different young man in almost every picture.
Once I make it to the back of the album, however there seems to be a series of images featuring my Nanna in a wide array of stunning outfits and the same good-looking young man in a row.
I want to learn who Nanna dated back then and investigate how she may have met Harold Holt.
I push the entire box to one side, just knowing I would be going back to them as soon as I could.
I look over at box number four, just knowing there will be a further bunch of items to blow my mind!
I walk over and sit in front of it, and pull open the cardboard box flaps. Inside are documents and envelopes that are faded yellow are stacked inside.
Quite a few of these envelopes have "CONFIDENTIAL" stamped on their front in red, bold lettering, as well as several envelopes with nothing but "Addie - Harry Holt" printed on the front. Every single part of this story I'm starting to put together has me even more in awe of my Nanna.
This strong and amazing woman, who's eldest child - a daughter, was hit and killed by a drunk driver has still achieved far more in her first 30 years of life than I could possibly fit in, in two lifetimes!
Nanna travelled a stack, was a celebrated english teacher and world's most amazing Mum and Grandma my family has ever seen!
I grab the top envelope marked: "Addie - Harry. H"
