Almost every summer I went to spend at least a week with my Mother's parents. It was such an important tradition for me that the first summer I had my driver's license one of the things I was most excited about was getting to drive to my Grandparent's house all by myself--it was an hour away and my first big road trip without any parent along. As you can see from this picture, my love for traveling started early!
Sometime around 13 or 14 years old I took a trip across country with my Father's parents in their big 'ole Cadillac. It was so cool because it had cigarette lighters everywhere and Grandma and Grandpa had this little TV that plugged into them so I could watch TV as we drove. We drove to North Dakota and went through Glacier National Park on the way.
I'm blessed to be part of two fabulous families.
I love that my Dad's side of the family is big and rambunctious and fun--full of mixed up generations where nieces and nephews are older than their aunts and uncles. Great Job! Grandma and Grandpa B on raising up a terrific family.
I love that my Mom's side of the family is smaller and more intimate and still fun--and here too there is a little generation drama: my youngest cousins are close to the same ages as my sister's children. Great Job! Grandma and Grandpa F on raising up a fantastic family.
What brought on this contemplation of my young Grandparents? I've been guilty on more than one occasion of sharing the fun fact that my Mother's Mother was only 37 when I was born . I've recently been corrected on this fun fact--she in fact was 36, just a couple of months shy of 37 when I was born. Whenever I share this fact I get the same response: What? 37? She was so young. But this statement really hasn't hit home until just a few days ago when I realized that I am 34. My Grandmother was only 2 years older than I am right now when she was a Grandmother. Wow!!! I am approaching an age were, under different circumstances, I could have been a Grandmother. But I'm young. I don't feel old enough to be a Grandmother. And I bet they didn't feel old enough to be grandparents either--they still had their own children living at home for the first years of my life. In fact, my Dad's youngest sisters are only 7 and 9 years older than me and 15 years younger than my Dad. No wonder I had three sets of parents--they weren't really Grandparents yet.
So here's to my young Grandparents: Lloyd, Phyllis, Wayne, & Dorothy! I'm so privileged to know you and am blessed to be part the incredible families you have worked so hard to nuture and support. I am happy to have been born at the beginning of the grandchildren line up and I cherish the memories of time spent with you camping, cleaning, making lefsa, sewing, crocheting, traveling, picking up bales of hay, and the list goes on.
