Until a few years ago, I still had a living grandparent. My grandparents were always a large part of my life– we even lived in the same town as my paternal grandparents the year I entered middle school. I loved having dinner with them Sunday evenings, sailing with them in the summer, and having them come to my field hockey games (I loved that they were involved in my high school). I will always remember the lunches I had with them when I came home from college on breaks, and cocktails before dinner, and my grandfather’s jazzy pants and jackets.
While my maternal grandparents lived in different states, I was still able to see them at least once a year if not more. We were together in the summer at my grandfather’s house for trips to Niagara Falls, swimming and visits to the zoo, and for Easter in Florida with my grandmother with ham and a lily-laden mass. We spent the afternoons when we were older trying to run over each other with her golf cart.
I love the memories I have of all four of them, their strong personalities, the histories and stories of our family they shared with me. I carry with me my grandfather’s wink and chuckle, the memory of my grandpa putting a dead rat on the ladies tee on the golf course behind his house, my grandmother’s etiquette lessons at the dinner table, and my grandma’s spunk as she talked about her work during World War II. All of them were my living link to that greatest generation. They are knotted in the fabric of my being.
What I appreciate most about all my grandparents, now that I am a mother, is the effort they made to ensure our family got together and knew each other. On holidays, a 50th anniversary, birthdays or just because a family reunion is always a good idea, they would make sure we got together. And if you could come, you went.
My father is one of four, my mother one of five. I have six cousins on one side and eight on the other. Whether over a meal or in the swimming pool during these get-togethers, we spent time with our cousins like they were siblings and those are still relationships we feel comfortable with today.
Now that many of my cousins are married, the number of cousins I have has doubled. We still make every effort to get to weddings for each other. And while right now I am the only one that currently has children on my side of the family, my husband’s brother just welcomed his first child, and I am excited for my kids to get to know their newest cousin.
My kids currently have all four of their grandparents, and I hope that’s the case for a long time to come. I am thankful on Grandparents Day that my grandparents made sure for so many years that I knew my family. I hope to do the same for my children– and my children’s children! Here’s a great post about ways to stay in touch with out of town grandparents from Jacksonville Moms Blog guest blogger Cathy Eng.
