Currently my 93 year old grandma and Auntie are on an epic road trip to visit grandchildren. We have had them at our home for about 48 hours and today they move on north to visit two more.
Because I grew up in the East I missed out on growing up with my mothers mother and therefore didn’t get to get to know her besides a few visits when we were younger. When I was old enough to visit I like many young people didn’t take the opportunity to do so. I now feel like I have missed out on a huge piece of time. I can look back and think I should have I could have but in reality I never would have and that is a hard pill to swallow now. But in the past three years I have had the chance to spend time with her and I am continually thankful.
Last year the kids and I took a road trip back to BC to visit my family and I jumped at the chance to bring them over to Vancouver Island to spend time with my grandma their great grandma and great grandpa. I have so many memories of that trip that I will cherish forever. So does Florence, she still remembers making sandcastles with great granny on the beach in the ocean. Again thankful because great grandpa passed away a few months later.
On our last day there, I had dropped my mum off at grandmas house to have dinner with her and Art and I drove the kids around because we had just spent a full day at the beach and they were already asleep. I called my dad to tell him about our day and remembering crying while on the phone because the weight of my choices not to visit and spend time with her were weighing heavy on my heart. I felt like I had missed such a big chunk of time and wasted opportunity. Of course my dad comforted me by saying what I knew and there wasn’t any point in looking back. When your grandma is 92 (at the time) you cherish the moments you have.
This year grandma was staying in southern BC with my Auntie and cousins and decided that she was going to go on tour visiting her grandkids. To be able to show my grandma our home, walk her around the property, well my heart has been very full these past two days.
Yesterday was one of my greatest days, and I feel as a mom kinda torn saying that but, the kids were also a big part of it so I can. We had breakfast and then took Auntie and Grandma on a tour. We went and saw the horses, and the tree house and talked about the prairies and how beautiful it is. Then I showed them the front garden, my joy. I work on it as much as the kids allow but they don’t stick around when I start to weed it. Well as we are standing there talking about it and growing and plants and all things wonderful grandma bends over and starts pulling weeds around the Juliet cherry tree. I am currently looking out the window at a huge pile of weeds and a weed less garden. It even looks a little empty haha.
I am not sure how long we were out there but Auntie, Grandma and I all started weeding the garden and talking, the kids even stayed around! I didn’t have to chase after them and eventually Parker just went on the deck which was perfect because I was able to lock the gate and he just ate snacks and played up there with no worries. Auntie went to town to check things out and pick up a few things. Grandma and I kept weeding and I listened to stories of her life. She told me about meeting her first husband (my mums father) for the first time, how it was love at first sight. Her time in the army during the war, how she made 18$ a month as a nanny/housekeeper. She gave me a picture of herself and my great grandma when she was 16 years old. She told me about how she was born in Scotland and had her first birthday on the Montcalm ship as they immigrated to Canada in 1927. Her father was told by his doctor that he had to move to either Australia or the Prairie Provinces to save his life because of becoming sick so many times in his job and the dampness of where they lived. How her mother was held for hours when they finally reached Montreal after three weeks on a ship because she was missing her middle finger and the customs officer said she wouldn’t be able to be a farm wife without that finger and were going to send them back. Great grandma was also pregnant during that journey. Three weeks on a ship across the ocean pregnant. Unbelievable. They were granted citizenship when they landed because great grandpa had served in the First World War but in the 70s they found out they had never been legally in Canada (let that sink in for a minute as you think of the illegals in North America right now).
I could keep going with stories but I won’t share any more, those are for me. We laughed so much yesterday, and you could just feel the love. The kids had a full day with their great grandma and amazing Auntie. At the moment I don’t know if I could ever feel this thankful again. I have tears running down my face right now, because the reality of our visit is that this may be our last. At 93 grandma is seizing every single day and living life to its absolute fullest. I am not going to wait until 93 to start doing that and neither should you because at 93 or 37 neither of us are guaranteed tomorrow. If you are lucky enough to have a grandparent still with you take that chance don’t hesitate, learn as much as you can about them because you are a part of them. They hold so much that we take for granted.
Love hard today.
Xoxo
Simone
(The picture attached is the actual boat that grandma and her family traveled from Liverpool to Canada on)
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