I’m so thankful for my grandparents.
Ever since I was very little, I’ve been so proud to be their granddaughter. I’ve always had this sense that they were important to and respected by their community. The kind of people that others would go to when they had a problem, and who always had friends stopping by. They’re kind, honest, and incredibly hard-working people – values I admire and hope to instill in my own little one as she grows.
I have so many fond memories with them at the centre. Staying at their home – which has always been gram & gramps place as long as I’ve been alive – for sleepovers, sneaking up in the middle of the night to set the table as a surprise for breakfast (and sometimes getting caught and sent back to bed). Being spoiled with fruitloops, cheese-sticks, ice cream and pop – special treats we would never have at our own home. Munching on my grandpas delicious baking. Picking fresh peas and carrots from their garden. Admiring the pansies growing in the planters outside. Walking on my grandpa’s back with our tiny feet (did this actually feel like a pleasant massage?). Playing Yahtzee and crib every morning.
And the stories. I’ve always loved to hear my grandparents stories. Maybe all older people have a vast wealth of memories to draw from, from many different eras that I can only imagine, but the tales told by grandparents seem especially amazing to me. I could sit all day, for days, and listen to them share their memories of friends met along their snow-birding journeys and near home, of coal-mining and raising a family (my parent’s) in times and circumstances that are far-removed from our experiences today. Stories of life and laughter, hardships and triumphs. And many, many stories of all kinds of animals that have obviously been an important part of their lives. Birds, dogs, rabbits, deer, foxes, bears, horses, skunks. You name it, they probably have a story about it.
I’m so glad that we’re able to share our daughter’s life with them, and have her meet her amazing grandparents, even if we are separated by a distance that makes visits fewer than they really should be.
So here’s to grandparents, and great-grandparents. You are loved dearly!
What favourite memories do you have with your parents’ parents?
