Nadia's Rose Garden by kiwisaskatoon

As you may or may not know, my shop is named for two women, both of whom were dear to me. Nadia was my cousin and Rose was my grandmother. Today, I've invited Paulette, my only other female cousin, to write about her sister. It is a beautiful and moving tribute to an irrepressible and irreplaceable woman.

Nadia, A dessert first kind of girl

First I should note that it was incredibly nice for my cousin Carrie to ask me to write about my sister on her blog. Second, in case you hadn’t figured it out Carrie and Nadia are not the same person. Though they were related, both had dark hair, a love of chocolate and animals they were not the same person. Anyway, the point of this is for me to write about Haw, as she was better known, not compare Carrie and Nadia.

So now I guess I should try to figure out where to start with my sister. I guess I could say that she was my best friend, one of the few people that would tell me I was being stupid and to shut up, the only person who ever had the nerve to push me into a bathtub and also the only person I ever had to the nerve to dump a bucket of water on her bed during a water fight.

My Haw (yes, I am a bit possessive, always have been) was pretty freaking awesome. She knew what she liked and what she didn’t . She never really tried to be anything she wasn’t. She always danced badly, making her the hit of any party. She belted it out to some pretty horrific boy bands (I’m guilty too I guess...) and wore the most appalling clothes you could imagine... most of which I have now inherited.

Best of all, she didn’t care. You could tell her that her pants looked like a flower had thrown up on them or that her music was an assault on your ears and she always said “Oh Paully, it’s not that bad.” She did what she wanted and that was what made her awesome.

Haw had her flaws. She didn’t like to leave her house. You really had to nag her out if you wanted to do anything. She would never drive anywhere despite the fact that she was the only one with a car. She was moody and annoying like all little sisters are.

When we were little, we always wondered what it was like not to have a sister. I never really thought we’d never have to find out. I was wrong. My life and future were Nadia and now I have to piece them back together without her. What else can I do? I know that if I stopped doing all the things I love doing or living my life the way I want, she would probably haunt me for the rest of my life. Seems like a bit of a waste of her afterlife, no?

I guess the only other thing I can say is that I’m going to do what Nadia loved- eat dessert first. For her it was pointless to eat a proper meal when what she really wanted was the Snickers cake. Unfortunately I’m not the biggest fan of Snickers so I think I’ll have the raspberry bash cake instead.

Nadia was taken from us one year ago on February 2. Three men are awaiting trial for her murder.