Great joy comes in vibrant packages but 8 humans with one bathroom in a couple hundred square feet can be challenging! Memorial Day Weekend was a blast with four generations of our family all stuck because of rain in our park model trailer near the Wisconsin Dells.
I love my family. But I am a bit of a recluse and the weather hasn’t been anyone’s friend for the past week. We received nearly 6 inches of rain in the past few days — a good part of that after the other three generations arrived for the weekend.
Saturday was beautiful! we were out and about and enjoying the forest and especially the bird songs. Sunday brought a return of rain that had haunted the three days prior so the ground was already pretty well soaked before adding another soaking. At the bottom of our site, across the road was a puddle that you could have sailed toy boats in! Monday morning dawned with a nicer outlook and some sun, and at least the kids had a chance to use the playground and the older one to get into the pool.
Sunday — in spite of the rain — was a chance to take the younger ones to the International Crane Foundation. It’s only a handful of miles from our trailer and with 15 species of Cranes on site it’s a wonderful way for the young’uns to see and learn about the birds and a little about conservation (though they are too young to really appreciate “conservation” — they just enjoyed seeing the BIG birds!)
On the way from Minneapolis to join us our Grandson-in-law met up with a cycling buddy in La Crosse and the two of them cycled 80 miles together from La Crosse to Reedsburg — a jaunt that he’d been wanting to make for some years. That gave hime 6 hours of cycling time with a good friend and that gave us an extra 6 hours with our granddaughter and the two little ones.
At 4 years and 2 years the little ones are a joy — and little bundles of energy. I love being with them but by the time the three days were over I was — we were — ready for some peace and quiet. I have to say that as is always the case generations have their own ways of doing things and it’s interesting, instructive, and a bit frustrating watching parents parenting, and grand parents grand parenting and knowing how and when to simply shut my own mouth and let them be who they are.
It will probably been a couple months before we see the young’uns again. That’s the problem with living 300 miles away. If I’m honest I’ll admit that we were pretty tuckered out by the time the invading hordes had gone. “I wish they were closer” is easier to say than to live.
I guess that’s it for today. Take care of yourself and I’ll talk with you tomorrow.
From the Far Side of '70 
I can completely understand how you felt. We dearly love our children and grandchildren but since they all live far away, we don’t get to enjoy brief gatherings and events but have full on 24/7 gatherings when they happen. I get exhausted and feel badly when they are gone that I wasn’t more “present”. I’d give a lot to be the close by grandma with a chance to go to recitals, sports etc.
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Liz, the one positive thing to come out of my health issues is that they have taught me to accept that I actually HAVE limits. It’s a concept I never understood as a young man — I was game to tackle anything. But now between mandatory naps and the inability to physically perform certain tasks I have come to acceptance. So when we are with the little ones I participate when I can and I stop when I can’t and I eagerly watch the parents and grandparents who are vying for their changes to entertain the little ones and I live vicariously through them when I have run out of steam.
I feel badly for Mike and Katy because they, like us, are 350 miles away from their lovely grandkids. But then I remember when we were in our 20’s and we moved from Chicago to Toledo to be near Peg’s family and MY parents were suddenly the ones who had to travel 350 miles to see THEIR grandchild. I guess it’s something in our genes?
The lovely part is that the little ones remember more about us than we perhaps expect them to. And we ARE building relationship with them as best we can. At least they will be able to say that they HAD great grandparents whom they knew however much we get to spend with them. It will be a part of their “family” that I never had. In fact my maternal grandfather had passed 2 years before I was born, so I only ever knew 3 grandparents.
Don’t get discouraged. They’ll be around for a long time and what you have to share or teach them will become obvious with time. We all find our place. Sometimes it’s not the place we anticipated, but it’s our destiny.
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Thanks for the pep talk, Peter! You are absolutely right about acceptance. Some days I do better than others.
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