Grand Summer Fall 2019

More documents

Recommendations

Info

My, What Big Expectations You Have, Grandma! Another grandchild birthday approaching. I deliberate, flip-flop, buy the gift, experience buyer’s remorse, wrap tenderly, write the card (sealed with a lick ’cause a kiss won’t stick!), close eyes while paying the exorbitant parcel postage, pocket the tracking information for future reference and wait with baited breath for an acknowledgement. Silence. “Say ta,” I can still hear my own grandmother admonishing over six decades ago. In my day, we were sat down, given a blue Air Letter aerogramme, a pen, and expected to come up with a thank you letter for Grandma. (Or rather a “merci beaucoup” letter since I spent my childhood in France!) No wait, I’m missing a step or two. First we were given a piece of lined paper and a pencil and pink eraser to practise, using cursory writing. Sometimes it could take me hours and many attempts to get the wording right and a standard of neatness with which both of my parents would be satisfied. Sometimes meals would be missed and harsh words would fly across the kitchen table. Once or twice, I even recall a friendly rap on the knuckles with the 6-inch wooden ruler. Which is probably the reason I am able to write a better-than-average letter and email to this day. No word from them just yet. I count the business days on the calendar. I check for messages on my iPhone. Soon I give up waiting and begin pontificating. Why is acknowledging with grace seemingly such a lost art these days? Do parents even teach the importance of saying or writing a simple: “thank you”? Why is saying thank you a stretch when it should be a strength? After all, “thanks” doesn’t need to be embellished with adjectives or superlatives when falling on grateful grandmother ears or eyes. I remember my dad buying my first grandson an ice cream cone on the waterfront in Nanaimo. My grandson is 19 now and I recall the scene like it was yesterday. “He didn’t thank me!” my dad reprimanded me incredulously. “Sorry Greatgrandpa!,” my grandson said, having overheard. “I was enjoying the blackberry flavour so much that I forgot!” I remember not having the words to express my own appreciation when the gift was handmade with hundred of hours of love. Like when my own mother made me a Raggedy Andy or when both my parents constructed a puppet theatre with handsewn curtains and paper mache Punch and Judy puppets. To bring clarity to this quibble of mine, I determined to 18 Island Grandparent IslandParent.ca
esearch the threshold for having the grandchildren utter a simple thanks. It could even be under their breath. Maybe I could even imagine it. I certainly wasn’t holding my breath for anything stamped and in writing to pop through the mail slot. Why is saying thank “ you a stretch when it should be a strength? After all, “thanks” doesn’t need to be embellished with adjectives or superlatives when falling on grateful grandmother ears or eyes. ” If I got my grandsons a 3D printer would it impress them sufficiently to hear those two words? They have every electronic device imaginable. They already fly drones around the neighbourhood. I can’t afford to send them on a space trip. You know what I’ve realized? I’m through fussing about any of this! It doesn’t matter. Just as they don’t owe it to me to care what I did for a living, where their great-great-great grandparents lived or even where I went for my last cruise, it is not their job to thank me for knitting them a cardigan with sleeves way too long or getting them a hardcover they read last year. But hold on, I spot a lovely thick envelope in today’s mail. Why, it’s chock full of darling handwritten printing, crayoned drawings and inked letters from the entire family. They’ve all chimed in! A veritable feast of delicious recognition of gifts received. What on earth was I thinking. They love me! We have the best of relationships! My world is still spinning on its axis! It’s a bluebird day! I shall brew a latté and have a healthy biscuit and settle in for a delicious read. After which I’ll give them a telephone call to thank them. Ta for reading! OUR HOSPITALS ARE VITAL. OUR CAREGIVERS ARE VITAL. OUR FAMILIES ARE VITAL. OUR DONORS ARE VITAL. THIS EQUIPMENT IS VITAL. Our Vancouver Island kids are vital. Thanks to specialized caregivers and technology, 98% of pediatric cases on Vancouver Island can be treated at Victoria General Hospital. Right now, its NICU and PICU are in critical need of new monitors for life-saving care. Let’s join together so that our children can continue to receive exceptional critical care here on the Island. WWW.VICTORIAHF.CA/VITALKIDS Elizabeth Olson recently retired from Galiano Island Books and spends a lot of time these days in bookstores in Sidney. Her own grandfather was a pirate who spent his retirement searching for Inca gold on Cocos Island. IslandParent.ca Summer/Fall 2019 19
Page 1 and 2: island GRAND parent Summer/Fall 201
Page 3 and 4: Swan Lake christmas hill n a t u r
Page 5 and 6: Digital Grandparenting Skype. FaceT
Page 7 and 8: Saanich Fair …is the place to “
Page 9 and 10: ker down with the cat and our colle
Page 11 and 12: Kids Kits to Go GVPL staff put toge
Page 13 and 14: “You probably would Grampa. You
Page 15 and 16: Stay where you are. Staying where y
Page 17: dren are “good” at something, a
Page 21 and 22: ing recipe is taken from kristenyar
Page 23 and 24: Trans-Canada Hwy Trans-Canada Hwy E
Page 25 and 26: Swan Lake The small and mighty humm
Page 27 and 28: Half-mermaid, half-girl Emily Winds
Page 29 and 30: Over 6700 members belong to the SSR
Page 31 and 32: Bleiddyn del Villar Bellis Bleiddyn

Grand Summer Fall 2019

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?