Someone, somewhere must have a vicious sense of humour. It is Mother’s Day in England today… a day when many Mums may get to lay in bed a little longer… except that today is also the day when we lose that hour as the clock’s have gone forward. I also happened to forget about that and worked late into the night, robbing myself of even more sleep. The dog wouldn’t have been bringing me breakfast in bed anyway…
That only happened to me once on Mother’s Day and, given the extent of the ‘damage’ in the kitchen when my small sons decided I should have breakfast in bed, I am quite glad about that. Today I get to go out to lunch instead, invited to my younger son’s home, where I get to play with my granddaughter while her parents cook and do the dishes. Little things like that make all the difference.
It struck me, when I was thinking about my granddaughter, that I am a grandma. I know that sounds odd, but there is a vast difference between knowledge and realisation. I am not just a grandma, though, I have, since my granddaughter’s birth, moved ‘up’ a generation. If I am blessed with the longevity of my own great-grandmothers, I could even move up another couple of generations before becoming an ancestor.
I was lucky enough to know my own great-grandmothers. One, indeed, was with us until long ofter my own children were born and from her I heard the tales of her own mother and grandmother, taking my imagination back through shared memory to the mid 1800s. It is not the same as reading about it. When the person from whom you gather memories remembers the people and the incidents, they come alive…especially when these women were your family. In a little while, when they are old enough,I may be able to share that same gift with my grandchildren, giving them access to memories stretching back seven generations before their own, with me somewhere near the middle.
The realisation brought with it a sense of continuity. My personal memory covers the three generations before me. If I am very lucky, I may see three, or perhaps even four generations after me, though I would have to rival great-grandma’s years to do so. But the story doesn’t stop there. I am just one small link in a very long chain. The future will count me as an ancestor one day, just as I can look back at the faceless women whose names are on my own family tree…and even further back to a time before records began.
It puts you in perspective. You are suddenly a very small link in an incredibly vast chain… yet an essential one if the chain is to continue into the future. Even the smallest of things can make a difference.
Science has traced the first ancestors of humankind, but our evolution did not begin with humanity. The very earliest lifeforms appeared over four thousand million years ago, poised between inorganic and organic matter… and even they had to evolve from something. We speak of Mother Earth… and with some truth as the Earth must be the ancestor of us all.
She still does what mothers do… providing us with all those things we need in order to survive.
On Mother’s Day, maybe it would not be a bad idea to look at the Earth with as much love and appreciation as we give to human mothers.
Reblogged this on ladyleemanila and commented:
Happy Mothering Sunday <3
Thanks, Lady Lee <3
I had no idea it is Mum’s Day in the UK. Happy Mother’s Day!!
Thank you 🙂
Happy Mother’s day Sue, this grandparenting business is exciting in so many ways I find. I don’t consider myself a grandparent only that my grandchildren call me Grandad, I really don’t know what it means as my role models were either dead or very old men when I knew them and I didn’t spend much time around them. My dad sat around a lot and his Gkids loved him….but you have a great mother’s day, I’m sure you’ll be celebrated, waited on hand and foot and it will be all well deserved as grandmother’s I have found are always special women…
Thanks, Michael. My grandmothers, I remember, were all ancient women… except, I am now much older than some of them were when I first knew them. It is all in the perspective 😉
It’s a scary thought isn’t it. I’ve lived longer than my mother and her father. My lived to 90 so I live in hope.
Great-granny made 99… but my father died at 45 and I am much older than he was…
If I have ancestors, and I suppose I do, they are unknown to me. Along with the woman who brought me into this world, they are long gone and forgotten. But I do have a mother, one who renews every Spring and never lets me down. Today, for me, is Mother Natures Day!
We all share that Mother..and that makes us family. x
so it does… XXX
🙂 xx
Happy Mothering Sunday, Sue. I’m being taken out for dinner this evening but in the meantime as it is a glorious day I’m off to see if there is any sign of our ospreys returning to their nest yet.
Oh Id love to see ospreys…but I aw my granddaighter instead, so I’m not complaining 🙂
Hear, hear!
Happy Mother’s Day, Sue!
So are you writing your memoir to include remembered stories of the previous generations for your granddaughter?
If I evr dare write it, I will 😉
Okay, maybe not ALL the stories! ;-D
It would be a shame to waste them though 😉
A separate volume perhaps? 🙂
Possibly published anonymously 😉
😀 Right!
Yes! I recently started trying to write memories of my grand parents and parents for my children, grand-children and great grandchildren….one of the last turns 21 soon. I regret the paucity of my knowledge of past generations. I didn’t live near grandparents or cousins, so gathered very little first hand from them, but want to pass my parents stories of them on. That awareness of being a small link in a very long chain can be very freeing and affirming. Thanks for such an insightful sharing
I know how lucky I was to know so many of my elders prsonally…and wish I remembered more of the tales they told. A smallchild doesn’t realise the gift they are being given..
Happy Mother’s Day! Sorry about the time change! Ours happened 2-3 weeks ago.
I noticed… very bad timing though 😀
I wish they’d just leave the time alone. It’s so hard to adjust sometimes!
I know…so do I!
Happy Mum’s Day. 🙂 x
Thanks Debby …it was 🙂 x
<3
Well written, Sue. Happy Mother’s Day. 🙂 — Suzanne
Thank you, Suzanne.
While I do not think American traditions are right for everyone (even for those that share the northern hemisphere of the planet…) I do have to say, Daylight Savings Here – early March (yup, I stayed up late too, even though I KNEW it was coming….) – Earth Mother Day – April ; Human Mother Day Celebration – May (based off 2nd Sunday in May) – yes, after seeing all my “Reader” posts regarding Mum’s Day…having a total heart attack that I actually set out to catch up and update my blog, today and having the same initial feeling I have on Superbowl Sunday of, “It’s quiet, I can catch up on connecting/reading – HEY! Why all the posts on party food and sports? Where is my local circle of cyber buddies? …oh…wait a minute…the light is dawning in my grey matter – – ” – – LOL
Happy Mum’s Day – – Happy future Grandparents Day (October date in U.S. – not sure when your local one is) – but yes, I see you as being a First Rate Family Storyteller that keeps the family remembering their roots and where they came from – – 🙂 Tough job, but someone’s got to do it….LOL
I lose track of a good many events ( must check when it is Easter this year!) and nly find out about them through others’ writings too!
I hope I can do a good job of being family custodian when the time comes 🙂
You already are – in all your ‘remembering holiday dates this year – – or not- – glory!” Seriously, some day, your descendants will fondly recount Ani, the hill and dales, the bluebells, the Highlands, the French side trip – 🙂 and everything else that made “great (great, great, great, etc.) Grandmama an ancestor to take pride in when someone tells ’em they are a ‘chip of ye olde blocke’ – 🙂
My granddaughter is already showing signs of becoming that chip 😉
Fantabulous! She shall brighten the world of the future with the gifts and quirks needed to keep all in balance… 😀
Quirks she has already…though I rather think she’ll prefer keeping the world off-balance 😉
Lol- which, to my mind, actually serves balance well. Lol
😀