Generations

Spent this weekend near Vancouver visting family and introducing Kieran to some of the relatives who hadn't met him yet. My Dad even came down - partly for this and partly for his 60th Birthday. There was a lot of talk this weekend about generations, about how kids get older so quickly, how time flies. All the usual chat that I think most families have when they get together infrequently. My cousin has a teenager! My grandma is 81, has a 'child' who is 60, and 8 great-grandchildren! And somehow I have become one of the older crew, no more sitting at the kiddie table.
My kids are so lucky - they have 5 living great-grandparents who adore them. (Even though Kieran looks like he's about to punch out Grandma in this pic.) I barely remember my one great-grandma and even that is the kind of fuzzy remembering that you get from seeing old pictures. Jaela already has some great memories of her 'greats & grands' and I hope Kieran has the chance for the same.
Here's a little story about this weekend that tells you something about the person my Grandma is... My Dad was on the search for a match and my grandma pulled out a box with some assorted books of matches. Pulls one out and it's from a family wedding - in 1963!! Can you say raised during the depression?! They weren't even dusty!
She also pulled out a waffle recipe that was written out by her mom an eon ago, held together with brittle yellow Scotch tape. It is written in the impeccible handwriting of people who learned to write in Europe (Norway) and Grandma explained that her mom learned to read & write English by reading the newspaper. My Great-Grandma Larvick, sitting at the farm kitchen table, searched through the newspapers to find the words so that she could write out recipes and letters to her son in the army. Cool.
Here's to the 'old folk'!