grandma's broken heart

As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end.

They also say a picture is worth a thousand words.

Hailie, Eloise and Claudia

Tara

Aaron and Tara





Riding the merry go round with Papa



Meeting Snow White

Ellie the Birthday Girl

Claudia, Melissa, William, Kennedy and Hailie

Kennedy

Chaos

Bob, Tasha, Claudia, Tara and William



The picture that says it all. Tara and Melissa

An early Christmas

Papa dancing with his princess

"Grandma .... what does N-O-E-L spell?"
"Noel."
"Yes there is."
"Yes there is what, sweetheart?"
"N-O-E-L. What does it spell?"
"Noel."
"Grandma!!!!!! It's right there!"
"What's right where honey?"
"The L! You keep saying there's no L!!!"

I miss them already.

they're baaaack!

Shortly before Tara and her happy little family moved to Germany, Aaron Who Will Never Be Forgiven had checked the list of conferences Das German University was offering in the upcoming year. Lo and behold, one was being held in December in Toronto Ontario Canada. Needless to say, he booked the conference and they arrived this past Tuesday for a three week stay - the majority of it being with us.

Musings from week one -

- A six hour time changes hurts *a lot* when 3 a.m. rolls around and 2 little girls think it's 9 a.m. because that's what their bodies are telling them it is.

"Grammaaaaaa ...... we're AWAKE!!!!"

So there's grandma in the middle of the night building forts out of blankets, making breakfast, playing banker with change from the old peanut butter jar - and of course, feeding them chocolate chip cookies and pointing them in the direction of their sleeping parents when I couldn't take anymore because I might be a grandma but I'm sure as shit not a stupid grandma.

- Watching the four of them see "English television" for the first time in three months hit me full force as to what life must be like in a country where everyone and everything is in another language - a language you don't know. I said they were akin to crackheads being released from prison after 3 months and finding a pail full of crack.

- Bob and Tasha and their kids come over on Wednesday night. After dinner the kids made Christmas crafts. Stepping on teeny tiny beads for the next year will probably not be fun.

- You need a bare minimum of 14 sippy and or plastic cups ready and available at all times to accomodate two kids under 4 years of age.

- You learn the hard way what the look on your daughter's face was all about when you said let's take the girls to Limeridge Mall, which happens to be the largest mall within a 75 mile radius. In the evening. In December. Two weeks before Christmas.

- You forget what a clean house looks like.

- You forget about your house when two small hands grab your face and say "I love you Grandma."




Dora!! On TV!!! In English!!!!



Christmas Crafts





Eloise and Papa





Enjoying a hot chocolate at Gore Park



a year and a half later ....

- I'm still alive. Go me.
- So is mom. Go her.
- Jay still works straight afternoons. I still work straight days.
- I'm still married. (See above for why)
- My daughter, son-in-law and granddaughters are living in Germany for two years while Aaron does his postdoc. I might forgive Aaron for this someday.
- Actually, we all know I won't.
- My son, daughter-in-law, granddaughter and grandson now live in Cambridge, over an hour away.
- I still watch Kennedy and Julian - for now.
- Our family farm was sold. Instead of taking the money and buying shoes, lotsa shoes and the Lexus on my bucket list, I gave my share of the farm money to my brother in return for a paid off deed to his house that we've been living in for 8 years. We went from family renter to mortgage free home owner all within 30 seconds. The down side to this means -
- I still buy my shoes from Value Village.
- And I still drive a 13 year old Pontiac.
- We still have a trailer at the nudist resort but are becoming increasingly tired of the fishbowl existance that comes with trailer park living.
- Because of that, we spent half the past summer at the nude beach in Port Burwell. Odds are, we'll be selling the trailer this coming summer and going back to seagulls, waves and beach glass full time.
- I'm still president of the downtown Hamilton neighbourhood association. A few times a month I get to go to meetings and pretend to give a shit about things I really don't give a shit about.

I think that's it.