‘Wait For You’

I wrote the earliest version of this song during lockdown in 2020. I was sitting with my 101 year old grandmother at the time while my sister Jo had to work a night shift. Nan had been living with her for a while and couldn't be left unattended so we all took shifts watching her on those overnight shifts.

You see, Nan had been living alone for years (in her little house down the road from Jo) since her partner passed away years prior. She always managed the solo thing remarkably well for someone of her advanced age though. I remember once seeing her rapidly scooting up the stairs as she cleaned them with her vacuum because we had called in unannounced and she felt her housework wasn’t up to snuff. I remember it so vividly because I couldn’t believe such a tiny, frail old woman could move with such speed and agility. She was like Yoda in ‘Attack Of The Clones’. I distinctly remember stating such an obvious thing to her that in retrospect I feel quite foolish; ‘Nan! You’re 98’. She knew how old she was, Peter. 

But in the early stages of lockdown Nan fell over in her house and bumped her head. I couldn’t be there to aid in any way because of the lockdown restrictions but, (thank every god our species has ever dreamed up), Jo and my niece Becky were. They visited her regularly to deliver her shopping and aid in any way they could as she was a vulnerable person and the shutdown rules allowed for a select few to do this. 

They discovered she was hurt, contacted emergency services and Nan was, all things considered, okay. But she couldn't continue waiting out the pandemic on her own and Jo (the most giving and selfless person I have ever known) took her in.