It isn’t very often you have five generations together but this weekend my family did just that. My grandfather will be turning 95 tomorrow and he had children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and a great-great grandchild come out for his birthday brunch.
I tried to explain to my kids how unique an experience it is to not only meet your great-grandfather but to have him around long enough to not only hear some of his stories but be old enough to remember them. I believe I only met one great grandparent, and by meet I mean have a picture of me being held as an infant by one.
I still enjoy listening to my Grandfathers stories even though I’ve heard most before I don’t mind hearing them again and every once in awhile a new one will pop up. When I was a kid I always looked forward to seeing my grandparents because I loved being partnered up with him to play the card game 2 of spades.
We were almost unbeatable together, I’m sure we lost once in awhile but we were always the team to defeat. I’m sure it had more to do with his play than mine but I was always pretty lucky. I still have great luck when it comes to most card games and certainly some of it must be skill learned from my grandfather.
You can’t predict growing up what things you are going to remember fondly, the things that will make you smile. My grandmother on my Dads’ side passed away when I was quite young and of all the things to remember about her I remember a specific drinking glass.
It was a small glass with hand painted roses on it and was always the one she gave me to drink from. I also remember she smelt like lilac and that she was soft and warm when she hugged me. To this day catching a hint of lilac will give me a warm comforting feeling. It’s not much and as a child I certainly didn’t think to myself one day I’m going to remember these cups and that scent.
I don’t know in the end what my girls will remember of their great-grandfather after he is gone but it’s nice to know they will almost certainly find something that makes them smile when he is brought to mind.
I was glad to wish him a happy birthday yesterday and I hope there are many more to come and a few more memories made.
