The Family Hourglass
I apologise for my apparent absence yesterday. I didn’t cease to exist, however.
Someone has been spinning the hands on the clock awfully fast these days. I wake up, do a few little errands, and suddenly it’s dark! Our appreciation of time depends so much on our state of mind, doesn’t it?
I apologise for my apparent absence yesterday. I didn’t cease to exist, however.
Someone has been spinning the hands on the clock awfully fast these days. I wake up, do a few little errands, and suddenly it’s dark! Our appreciation of time depends so much on our state of mind, doesn’t it?
Speaking of time and warps (that’s warps, not warts…although that would be a good title for a bad sci-fi movie - TIMEWARTS!). Ja, ja…shut up, Hans. Anyway, as Neil of Nicked Beets fame mentioned on his site, I attended my mémére’s (that’s affectionate French slang for Grandma) ninety-first birthday party on Saturday. Her birthday is actually December 18, 2001 for those of you out there who collect data on grandmothers. She was looking lovely in lavender. She’s a fantastic woman with twinkly blue eyes and lots of laugh lines. She never complains, despite life’s knocks, and she works tirelessly at making quilts one after the other. My pépére died five years ago today, the day before her 86th birthday, so I imagine this time of year brings back a lot of memories. Pépére and mémére were married for over fifty years and had nine children.
Saturday night, I felt like I had just watched 20 years of sand pass through the family hourglass in the blink of an eye. Was it not only a few years ago that I was the little girl tossing packs of cards down the laundry chute with my many, many, many cousins in my grandparent’s house in Aubigny, Manitoba, lamenting because there were only Reader’s Digests to read at mémére and pépére’s, grabbing the star-shaped iced ginger cookies out of the jar? (Mémére never ran out of cookies…never.) But, last Saturday, I found myself looking around the game room at my mémére’s apartment at all the red-cheeked children, none of whom I recognized. It seems in the last few years my many, many cousins found the time to grow up, get married and have kids while I was busy taking time for granted.
For me, the year 2000 has felt like one great cold shower. I hope someone has hot pancakes and a cup of fresh coffee ready for me on January 1st. Hopefully I will have towelled off by then.
Saturday night, I felt like I had just watched 20 years of sand pass through the family hourglass in the blink of an eye. Was it not only a few years ago that I was the little girl tossing packs of cards down the laundry chute with my many, many, many cousins in my grandparent’s house in Aubigny, Manitoba, lamenting because there were only Reader’s Digests to read at m�m�re and p�p�re’s, grabbing the star-shaped iced ginger cookies out of the jar? (M�m�re never ran out of cookies…never.) But, last Saturday, I found myself looking around the game room at my m�m�re’s apartment at all the red-cheeked children, none of whom I recognized. It seems in the last few years my many, many cousins found the time to grow up, get married and have kids while I was busy taking time for granted.
For me, the year 2000 has felt like one great cold shower. I hope someone has hot pancakes and a cup of fresh coffee ready for me on January 1st. Hopefully I will have towelled off by then.
Posted on December 17, 2001 08:38 PM