This is the speech I wrote and delivered at my Nanny’s funeral.

“And though she be but little, she is fierce.” As anyone who ever saw my Nanny could tell, she was noticeably small in stature. Some may have even considered her frail or fragile— that was a common misconception of which I too was guilty. But despite her physical appearance, let it be known that my nanny was undoubtedly fierce. The ferocity and grace with which she battled cancer and treatment after treatment over the past two years is incomparable. The strength she mustered up until her last breath is something I will continue trying to summon throughout the hard days to come. 

*Anytime Nanny received a gift, regardless of whether it was expensive and elegant or handmade and completely lopsided, she always said, “Oh I love it! I wouldn’t take anything for it.” It became a joke in the family and we would ask her if she would take a million dollars for it, a Caribbean vacation, etc. Sometimes we would buy her gag gifts just to see if she would still say it… of course, she did. She kept and cherished every single thing we ever got her… even the XXL Hawaiian shirt I picked out for her for Christmas when I was eight.