Ruth Robson

Ruth Robson passed away peacefully this week in her retirement home, 93 - almost 94. She was my mom's mom, grandma to Lynn, Chris and I.

We didn't get to see my Grandma much, with her being Toronto based. But I'll always remember my weekend visits with "Doodie", as we called her, while studying out East. And it was great that Glen got to meet Doodie too, on a work trip to Montreal when we hired a car to travel across for a weekend stay. Doodie was still in her TO flat, and we did "the usual", which involved a trip to her club where she spent so many of her retirement years - playing tennis and curling, and later in life, as various joints decided to misbehave, playing bridge. Part of "the usual" included a martini (or two) and I was delighted when Doodie's classic bar request came through for Glen to witness, even though we were at the club for an early lunch (more of a brunch...). Awesome.

I drove us home that day and we had a yummy homemade dinner, admiring Doodie's own self made (rather excellent) art and pottery strewn about the flat and listening to her latest theories on the world. Glen and I participated in Doodie's aquafit class the next morning. No wonder she lived independently for so long - we were both knackered at the end of the 45 min class and Doodie wasn't even puffing. Just went straight on to sorting her hair and chatting with her gal pals to plan the next building social.

Ruth with Tom and Francie (mom)

Ruth with Tom and Francie (mom)

Ruth with Lynn, Chris, Ashley

Ruth with Lynn, Chris, Ashley, and Granno (Ruth's mom, my great grandma)

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Ruth, Glen, Ashley at the club

It's been five years since my last visit, and I'm sad that Doodie never got to meet Savvy. But we've exchanged a zillion postcards and pictures over the years and, until recently, we had a cool email thing going too, a pretty neat skill for a gal to pick up in her 80s. Anyway, these last few years were quite tough for Doodie and by all accounts, her time had come.

Rest in peace Doodie, xox