These are my awesome maternal grandparents Wilmina (Miny) and George Charl Anex. They were a large part of my childhood and adolescence. My grandma unexpectedly died not long after I was married, and grandpa passed on more recently, after battling more than one type of cancer and worsening Alzheimer's disease. Both their birthdays are in June and I have found myself missing them as much as ever this particular year. This post is a little tribute to my special memories of them.
I was the first of their four grandchildren, my brother second, and we benefited from their time and attention. Not only did we celebrate all major holidays with them (golden Easter egg hunts in their backyard, minced meat pie at Thanksgiving), we visited often in-between (getting to explore grandma's antique store, go fishing with grandpa, etc.) and they took us on vacation with them
every summer.
This is us up at Hurricane Ridge, in the Olympic Mountains, in 1985. We stayed in Port Angeles, hiked the ridge, and often took the ferry to Victoria, BC several years in a row. (Below: professional pic of Hurricane Ridge, 1985 ferry ride, 1989 at the Ridge with Grandpa.)
It was never boring or repetetive, though! They helped us to feel so lucky to live near these beautiful places, and we experienced new things like high tea at the famed Empress Hotel. Of course, simultaneously teaching us good manners, and giving insight into other cultures.
They also switched things up some years. They took us on a train ride to Portland one time and, after a long weekend exploring that city, flew home! Another time we went up to Vancouver, B.C. One of our activities that vacation was crossing the Capilano Suspension Bridge - yikes! (Professional photo followed by our own pic from 1990.)
But I don't miss them because I wish they were taking me on cool local vacations (you can see how psyched my bro was in his adolescence)... I miss that my Grandma never got to be a great-grandma. That I never got to talk to her about staying home, raising kids while your husband is self-employed. That my kids never got to play with her dubloons/treasure chest. That they didn't get to see her famous Russian kovsh or have her take them to the Seattle Children's Theater. That, though they met Great-Grandpa George, they never got to puzzle out his tall tales from the truth, learn how to grow beautiful flowers, or go hunting for elk with him. I guess most of these things are unrealistic for the great-grandparent generation but they were so vital and vibrant to me, it still seems odd that they are not around.
Take home message: create special memories with your posterity; share your time, talents, and interests with them. And for the posterity: treasure those moments, frequent or not, great or small.
i loved reading this post, kerri. made me long for those types of days with my grandparents as well. i lost both my maternal grandparents and one of my paternal grandparents within 9 months of each other in 2004. very hard year, but i take comfort in the fact that i do have many, many wonderful memories both of them and with them to get me through the "tough" days.
ReplyDeletexoxo. melissa
Now I want to go visit my grandma. And write down all of our memories together ...
ReplyDeleteThanks.
Awesome, Kerri!! I pray that we are building the same kind of memories with your kiddos. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kerri.You make a smile come to my face while my heart weeps with longing....oh I'd give almost anything for another squishy hug and kiss from my mom. I know they enjoyed and looked forward to the time with you and Danny as well.Grandma was full of life and would have been delighted with your sweethart and your great boys.
ReplyDeleteThis is a wonderful tribute to your grandparents :-)
ReplyDeleteI was lucky enough to have spent time with both sets of my grandparents. I was closet to my GPs on my mom's side because my mom was an only child, so my brother and I were their only grandkids. And I was super-close to my grandma. She had a stroke in August 2001, but a month later she was my matron of honour at my wedding, just as we'd planned for her to be. She was in a wheelchair and couldn't talk, but she was there, and that's what mattered to me more than anything :-)
I hope you share lots of stories about your grandparents with your kids. They may not have had the chance to meet their great-grandma and only had a bit of time with their great-grandpa, but they can learn so much about them through your stories and pictures :-)
Kelly @ DesignTies
Thanks for that heart-tug. My grandfather (a huge part of my life) passed away last year 2 days after Sawyer was born. I felt like he was "hanging on" just to meet my little son. Somehow, I think in the coming and going they got to shake hands or maybe even give hi fives...but I still miss my Grandpa. Like you, I'm thankful for the kind of Grandparents that share so much with you that you have those tender memories to share and pass on. So many people aren't close like that to their grandparents. Also makes me think I need to make a greater effort at helping the relationship between my children and their grandparents, both sets live out of state.
ReplyDeleteoops, that was Tysha signed in as Jacob ;)
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