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Cheri, My friend.
As always, an inspirational post. I would have enjoyed meeting your Granddad, older folk have always been my best of friends. I've learned so much from them, and the only negative to that is in having to say goodbye so soon.
I never knew my Granddad. He came back from WW2, and poured the rest of his life away trying to forget that terrible time, dying the year before I was born. I think of him every Remembrance Day and the sacrifice he made for others.
I remember my Mom's Grandfather, an old German immigrant. I was very young but can still recall the smell of his wool sweater. He loved to whistle, and passed that down to me (and through me to my 4 year old Nicole)
I've found many worthy replacements over the years.
There is Napoleon Calihoo. Nap is Metis, and a proud father at the age of 67. We met in the alley behind an apt building I had moved to. He was out there whistling away happily picking up trash that people had carelessly tossed around. We visited often, and I took to helping him clean up "our" area just for the love of a tidy neighbourhood. I drove him out to the old cemetary plot where many of his relations were placed, and we did the grounds every summer for years until his arthritis made it too difficult to even ride the mower. He's still around, and I see him when I can.
Ol' Don Reeken. Always remarking that I must have a backbone of steel with all the lifting I could do, teaching me all about his love for growing things and his greenhouses. A true backyard scientist, he taught me how to tissue propagate orchids, and we enjoyed a mutual project of growing unusual things. I really missed him when he had to go.
Myron Lusk. A gentleman's gentleman. I became a brother to Myron through a fraternal group, but he became more like a grandfather to me, always voicing his encouragement to my progress. His genuine caring manner and advice made me a better man. His courage in his personal battle with cancer was nothing short of inspirational, and I know he went holding firmly to his belief in the hereafter.
Of course there have been many important elderly women in my life too.
My grandmother Doris, who always stayed up late worrying about me as I stayed out too late..
And her three sisters, my Great Aunts, Elizabeth, Hilda, and Lil (there was a fourth, Elsie. She was a nurse in the 30's who contracted TB and passed away quite young)
Bebe (Elizabeth), the feistiest of the bunch, who always threatened to cut off my hair (that was before my stint in the Navy), and Lil who always played the piano accompanyment to our Christmas caroling every year, and who put me up the night before I enlisted with the Navy. I still remember the simple meal she prepared for me (not being accustomed to many visitors, Lil never married and probably did more eating out than cooking in)
And Hilda who lived in Edmonton, where I eventually settled. Hilda and I shared many long talks about family and life. It was from her that I learned more about our family than through any other source. She was a happy soul, and it was terrible when she left us so suddenly. Looking back, it was good though, because she was independant and happy to the end, and it was quick. Everytime I use the banana muffin recipe she gave me I smile in remembering her and how we used to love sharing a hot muffin with tea. (if anyone wants Hilda's recipe just drop me a line)
I guess it's in the back of my mind, knowing that my friends and family have fewer years left on this physical plane, but it's not something I always think about. I'm just too busy enjoying their friendship, learning from their lives and experiences. The end always comes as a shock to me, and I feel sadness at losing a friend.
Why I'm writing all this now? I don't know. Perhaps it's just my time to remember and give thanks to that universal consciousness for blessing my life with so much love and so many wonderful friendships.
Thank you.
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