Summer Stock Sunday - 18

Time for more Summer Stock Sunday!

This year I'm taking a trip back in time - let's go!














This picture was taken in 1939, overlooking Niagara Falls, Ontario.

My husband's Grandma Smith holds her son, David (my late father-in-law) while her older daughter Pat checks out the railing beside her auntie.

Don't you love their 30's dresses and hair? And the serious look on his little face?

For more glimpses of summertime, join Robin at Around the Island.

Apprentice Writer says I think we have a photo at that exact same spot! What am I saying - hundreds of thousands of families have a photo at that exact spot.

Akelamalu says Aw bless him look at his little face. :)

Alice Audrey says Even the baby has the serious look. It really is a great representation of the 30's, right down to the short skirts on little girls but not on women.

Waitin' For My Dearie

When Brad and I flew out to Toronto on Boxing Day, we didn't know we would be spending the next seven days at Toronto General Hospital holding a bedside vigil as his father passed away. We didn't know there would be a funeral. We didn't know how quickly the two of us would make the decision to have him stay on with his mom for awhile, available for emergency hugs.

We both switched our flights back to Nova Scotia. I delayed a few days, but Brad has stayed for a month. While we'd soldiered through our brand new ordeal, my mom hung out here with our dog, noticing just how empty our home is without our little 93-year-old roomie.

So now I've returned to a casual position at my old job, coming home every evening to have supper with my mom and do for her what Brad is doing for his mom. I used to come through the front door and immediately turn to my left to see Gram lift her head from her crossword puzzle or the new drawing she was working on. We'd smile at each other, I'd walk over to her rocking chair and she'd raise her cheek for my kiss. We'd chat for a little bit, then I'd join Mom in the kitchen as she finished getting Gram's supper ready. Once Gram was eating at her little table in the living room, Mom would join me at the kitchen table and we'd chat for almost an hour. It helped Mom decompress from a day caring for a tottery, very hard of hearing old woman to be able to tell me everything she was up to.

Afterwards, I'd go downstairs to Brad. My real time to myself would start then as we had supper, and Brad and I would catch up on the day's thoughts and events. With Brad in Toronto, and no Gram to cook for, Mom kept having supper waiting for me when I got home. We kept our routine of visiting after I got home from work, and she kept her routine of making supper, but we let the changes to our lives swirl in with what feels familiar.

It's been really nice, this time together. Sometimes we'd get teary as we shared little things that made us miss Gram, or when I'd fill her in on more details about Brad's dad. But this transition has been slow and easy, and it's been that way for Brad's mom, too. She could relax knowing she wasn't alone in the house. She could defrost something from the freezer and cook for Brad, like she cooked for David. She had someone to make jokes with as they watched TV together. She could really enjoy a nice long time together with her East Coast son.


But Monday's coming, and Monday I'm driving out to the airport to pick up my honey. And I can't wait to look into those blue eyes, to see him smile at me and feel his arms slide around me in a huge embrace.

Coming At Us From All Sides

My mom is finding it hard tonight to accept the idea that it's no longer an option to care for Gram at home. Mom has been caring for Gram for fifteen years.

The past few months have been really hard on Mom, as Gram was declining and Mom had to perform real nursing care for her mother. Though you'd imagine it might seem like such a relief to know that she's no longer tied to the house, to have to keep her ear listening for Gram getting up and shuffling off to the washroom with her walker - it's actually very distressing for Mom.


Luckily her two brothers flew here for the past few days, plus her brother that lives here has been sharing the visits at the hospital so that Mom feels a great deal of support from her siblings. I know it's meant a lot to Mom to be surrounded by her family for this dreaded transition in her mother's life.

I'll be getting up at 4:00am tomorrow to drive my uncles to the airport. It's been a short, emotional visit and I've so enjoyed seeing them. I'll share their trip here in my next Thursday Thirteen.

Meanwhile, after enjoying a family dinner quickly put together by Mom so my uncles could see all of us, Brad and I returned to our apartment downstairs to find this note on our Facebook pages:

'Say A Prayer For My Dad'

This was posted by Brad's brother Jeff this evening.


"I'm calling on all of my spiritual friends to say a prayer for my Dad. David Smith is 70 years old and has cancer of the pancreas. He's been fighting it for 8 months and recently he has been having a real tough go of it. He's taking chemo-therapy once a week and he's on pain medication the rest of the time, it either makes him so dopey he's zombie like or it doesn't properly control his pain and he just can't get comfortable. I know from my birthday that people will chime in and send best wishes. I'm hoping to harness a little bit of that good will and send it to my dad. If you're a part of a prayer group and can pass this along or if you've got a good connection with your higher power, please send out a prayer for him. We're doing all that is earthly possible for him. I'm hoping for some kind of holy intervention. Thank You."