Aunty Eleni - Thirteen Years On

Hi all,

Hope you are well.

Sorry for the lack of blog posts recently, I am in the middle of moving homes AND work is a little crazy at the moment! I’m busy researching away though!

I just wanted to do a post as tomorrow will mark thirteen years since my beautiful Auntie Eleni passed away. Eleni means Helen in Greek.

I have lost two aunts and an uncle to cancer but Eleni is the only one I can remember clearly as I was ten when she died as opposed to a baby when the others passed away.

My parents divorced when I was fairly young and my dad would have myself and my sister Nikki at the weekends. He would always take us out to the cinema, to museums etc…. and my auntie Eleni would sometimes come with us. She was very protective of us and would always make Dad give in to our demands, I remember queuing up for ages to get to The Tower of London and as soon as we stepped inside, we began to demand McDonalds. My dad refused as we had only just got there but Auntie Eleni stepped in and to McDonalds we went!

I have taken after my aunt in many ways. I remember I was my yiayia once (my mum’s mum) and she said something funny. I laughed my head off and she stared at me with a really weird look on her face. I asked her what was wrong and she said I had the EXACT same laugh at my Auntie Eleni and she was stunned by it. My mum has also commented on this so I tend to think of my aunt when I have a real laughing fit. I also inherited her crazy curly hair, although hers always looked much nicer then mine ever does. I’m also the proud owner of a lot of her old possessions which are safely locked away.

Auntie Eleni’s death is the first one I clearly remember. I was in year six at primary school at the time. My mum let us have the day off school and took us to the newly opened Bluewater to buy something to make us feel a bit better. It was a very painful and difficult time and I still really miss my aunt to this day.

My sister Eleni is named after our aunt and was born after her death so she wasn’t able to meet the lady she is named after. She is told all about her and I know our aunt would have adored her just as much as she did the rest of us.

My dad, my stepmum, my brother and sister live in Cyprus now and I miss them all the time. Its days like tomorrow that make me wish my dad was still in this country as I would like to be able to spend the day with him. I know he likes to talk about his sister and the other family he has lost and it’s hard to do that over the phone as I just want to be able to hug him!!

I was the first grandchild on the Christofi side of my family and I was the apple of my aunt’s eye (we all were). She would always tell me that I was a clever girl and would change the world someday. I hope I’m making that come true with the work I do.

RIP Auntie Eleni, miss you more everyday xxxxx