Reflections

Some how I think they look better on me....


Aaron and my grandpa.

Reflections:

There were so many different things I wanted to write about. My shitty day, feeling sorry for myself, missing Eric, our 8 year anniversary of sorts. Labour day weekend has special meaning for us as it was the start of our relationship.

But I really want to write about my childhood reflections with my grandpa. I had the opportunity to spend some time with alone with Aaron and it brought me back to my childhood. He is going on 88, and is still of sound mind, living on his own, doing things for himself and is always on the go.

I have a special bond with him. My grandma and him helped my dad out a lot with me as a child. My dad worked shift work and didn’t have every weekend off. I only went to my mom’s ever second weekend, so on weekends when he worked I went to stay with them.

My grandpa is a patient man and had away with kids. He spend hours with me, and I think it shaped part of who I am. I look back on my childhood memories with him and have nothing but good memories. Some of my favorite memories are tinkering around in his basement at his work bench. We would soder iron stuff, (melt plastic) squeeze random things in the vice, play with magnets, charge car batteries. He always told me to be weary of the acid. It probably wasn’t the safest area for me to be, but I was supervised and nothing bad every happened to me or my cousins.

We would hop on a bus, and go all over Vancouver. We would take the Sea Bus to North Vancouver or take the bus to the airport to watch the planes land and take off. We went camping in his motor home and on nights when I would just stay there we always camped out in the motor home in the backyard. Winter or summer, it didn’t matter. He’d let me stay up late playing cards (rummy, crazy 8’s, poker) and had infinite amount of time.

That man can fix anything. I love him and am glad that I got some time with him and I want Aaron to get to know him before he passes. (Lets be real, he’s 88 it’s something I need to keep in the back of my mind.)When my grandma passed away when I was 13, it wasn’t long before he had a new girlfriend who move din shortly after they met. (6 months after they met?) I acted like a jealous daughter of a step-mom, and I lost a part of his affections. But he and my grandma were more roommates after my dad and aunt left the house. At this time I am happy he found a companion to spend the better part of 12-13 years with. (She had to be put into care due to Alzheimer’s) But I wasn’t back in the day. I am just so thankful that he is still around that I can make some new memories and that he contributed to happy child hood memories that might not have been there had he not took the time.

I’ve so many memories of this man, I can’t list them all. I have memories being a toddler with him and helping him shave with his electric razor and dumping his whiskers in the toilet and saying “Bye-bye whiskers see you in the riber.” (I said riber, not river) and I had visions of seeing them when we went down to the Fraser River.

I just wanted to say how much I love and cherish my grandpa. And I got to know him. I learned more of his an my grandma’s elopement, but that will be a post for another day. A good one. I am tired.