If the House Burns Down

I remember being over at my grandparent’s house one day, and lined along the outside of the garage were – what looked to me as a ten-year old – antiques. My grandfather would go on to tell me those were his “tools” from when he fought on the front lines in Italy as a young eighteen-year-old in World War II; the one thing I remember most was how small his meal pan looked.

My grandfathers never talked about the war and both of my grandmothers were war brides who came over from England. How courageous do you have to be to pack up and leave your family and the only home you have ever known to travel across the ocean and start a new life in a completely different country? Very.

I was homesick leaving for university, and that was only two hours away! Much respect to my grandmothers, who I learned later in life were braver than I ever could have understood as a child.

We learn about Remembrance Day at a young age in elementary school, but like many things you are taught in school, they take on different meanings when you see it in your own life versus in a book. My grandparents high school experiences would have been interrupted by the war – I didn’t think of that when I was in high school, but I do now.

I often wonder as we navigate the world’s current global pandemic, what they would have said, or how they would have handled it? Living through a World War will no doubt affect your point of view and resilience on challenges faced…

Decades come and go so seemingly quickly – we’ve surpassed the futuristic entity that was 2015 of Back to the Future II – and if that statement makes sense to you, you know how old it made you feel when we actually hit 2015.

You never would have know that my grandparents survived many challenging years in two of the most difficult decades the world ever saw –  so we hopefully wouldn’t have to. They never talked about it, for better or for worse…

Patricia and I riddle you every week about nineties stories of dances, music, movies, hair styles, clothing, boys and all other things teenager… because we are so very fortunate to live free in Canada – something never taken for granted.

And despite of, or perhaps because of having gone through war, nothing seemed to phase my grandfather – he was very problem / solution minded. And when life seems to be overwhelming and I don't know which way to turn or how to start to fix the challenge in front of me, I think of his wise counsel:

“If the house burns down, than I guess we have to build a new one.”

It’s saved me more times than I can count.

As has the strength, courage and bravery of all of my grandparents from having survived that of which they could not even bring themselves to speak.

On this Remembrance week, I thank all who risked and lost their lives, so that we could be free.

Love,

Grace