Chas' Chips

If you could step outside & place something to sit upon in the carpet of Fall leaves what would that seat be & more importantly who would be sitting right beside you?  My seat of choice would be an old fashioned apple box & the person next to me would be my Grandpa Brown.  What a paradox of emotions it can be to miss someone yet never lose that profound & unmistakable feeling that they have never really left.  My Grandpa left us far too soon & I was just 13 years old however we packed a lifetime of love & laughter into those 13 years.  The most precious champions that are big time heroes to me are every day heroes…many of which are in my very own family.  My Grandpa remains in my heart a gentle giant of a hero.  Although Remembrance day is in 2 days I honour & remember Grandpa every single day & most especially when I find something to laugh about.  I search out things to laugh about daily.  Some days there would not otherwise be something natural to laugh about however I have learned to seek out humour on those tough days because those are the days that laughter is even more medicinal.  I like to believe that I honour my Grandpa throughout the whole year however it is a more private, introspective form of honour.  Today, I share my Gentle Giant with you with love stirred in.

Time shared together is precious don’t you think?  The outside world will tell us that we don’t have the time to share time with dear ones.  We rob ourselves when we buy into that belief.  I believe that we cannot likely do everything that we would like to do however that is where triaging our days comes in.  Sometimes the prepared “to do” list has to be thrown out in favour of what matters most.  When we are truly present with one another, being part of one another’s love stories we can pack in a lot of lifetime love even if we only have a short time together with one another. 

Are you a laid back person or more intense?  Popular psychology refers to this as type A & Type B personality style.  You will know which one you fall within.  I fall into the first born type A style by nature however by self nurture & redirection I have chosen to reside as much as possible in the more pleasant type B world.  That world does my health many benefits.  Stress management is one of the largest benefits that have resulted from switching my thinking to a more laid back tendency.  Left to my own devices I would remain overly intense, stressed to the max & self critical.  Instead I decided many years ago to go out of my way to take myself & situations a lot more lightly.  That is a constant work in progress.  The most precious example of a person who was proficient at being laid back was my dear Grandpa.  He provided a lasting example of what a beautiful life looked like.  He also taught me the appreciation for the simple things in life & that has sticking power because I find myself grateful for someone or something with no effort at all every single day.  Without gratitude & the power of simplification I know I would find myself on the the hamster wheel of life of dissatisfaction.  That would be a life lived tragically I believe because there is enormous beauty within each & every day & most profoundly vivid within nature.

Long before I was born my Grandpa served our country in World War II.  The most exposure to that time in his life that I have consists only in the photographs I cherish of our Gentle Giant in his Canadian Army uniform.  Grandpa had an infectious laugh that caused everyone around him to instantly laugh along with him.  He loved a good joke & he always had one for everyone he came across.  There is something dear about East Coasters & Grandpa was one of the finest example of Eastern friendliness, hard work, generosity, care & humour.  Most naturally, Grandpa moved to Ontario following his time with the Canadian army with his love of fishing & camping & a dream made reality through his & Grandma’s hard work of becoming apple farmers.  Grandma & Grandpa bought many apple orchards & they worked indescribably hard.  Grandpa was most content in the outdoors & there was never any doubt that he poured love & hard work into his many apple orchards.  When I was about 8 or 9 years old I got the opportunity to have a small job of picking up “grounders” &  my Grandpa made sure that I felt like I was one of the crew complete with my very first cup of coffee poured from his very own thermos.  It was mostly milk but boy did I feel like I was being treated like a grown up & not a little kid.  I will never forget the smell & taste of that first cup of “coffee” & how it warmed my hands & tummy on a cold Fall day.  My Grandpa lived his life from start to finish never leaving a man (or gal) behind & that made him one of the finest soldiers & human beings. 

Grandpa had a passion for camping & fishing & had a natural flare for life outdoors.  In a treasure box contained in a special place in my heart I will forever keep the memories of times shared with Grandpa on camping trips.  He had a silver wee camper & every so often I spot one somewhere & smile every time.  Grandpa was a morning person & on camping trips he could hardly contain himself as he awaited the first light to each morning sky.  When dawn arrived he was always down at the Lake “scaring up some breakfast.”  There are 2 people that I know that seem to have fish almost jump into their fishing nets:  my Grandpa Brown & my Dear Heart Dad.  Their rate of success for catching fish is staggeringly high…well into the high 90% & that is no tall fishing tale.  Countless times I was awakened to the smell of fresh fish cooking over the campfire & coffee & fried potatoes & the look of Grandpa grinning ear to ear to share the breakfast that he had all ready for all of us at the camp.  A favourite camping trip was one shared with Grandma, Grandpa, my well preserved Uncle (ha ha…he is only 3 years older than me) & my Mom, Dad & my dear friend “Bones” to the East Coast.  Grandpa’s smile was the largest I had ever seen & that is saying something on that trip.  He was in his element introducing all of us to his home town.  Grandpa remains an East Coast gem.  To this day the combination of fresh fish & fried potatoes & coffee is a huge treat. 

Family dinners at Grandma & Grandpa’s place were a hoot.  At least a dozen family members gathered around their kitchen table squished in like sardines (in a good kind of way) at exactly 5pm.  Since I was the youngest at the time, I always got to sit on the tall kitchen stool & that meant I sat higher that everyone else which gave me a bit of a diva status in my own imagination versus feeling like a little kid.  Somehow I always got seated next to my well preserved uncle (ha ha) who is a leftie.  To this day whenever there is a family dinner I still somehow end up next to the same “leftie” & when possible that guy somehow mysteriously ends up with a plastic fly in his beverage.  I know the Gentle Giant loves that too.  Every family meal at Grandma & Grandpa’s place was filled with almost everyone talking at once, the smell of Grandpa’s homemade tea biscuits, a delicious homemade feast made by Grandma & Grandpa’s ongoing challenge to me to try to eat my dinner without bending my elbows. 

Isn’t it funny just how much we each remember with a smile from our childhoods?  One especially dear memory to me of a moment in time of lifelong love & perspective was a wee, big one.  When I was about 9 years old my Mom & Dad bought me an autograph book that I had my eye on.  You might think that I wanted it for a signature of someone famous.  There are no famous people signatures in that autograph book however there is one of the greatest everyday hero’s signatures in it.  I asked my grandpa to write on the first page of that autograph book.  He wrote, “in your wood box of memories, consider me a chip.”  At the time I did not get what that meant.  In time I have smiled though & nodded my head towards heaven & said right out loud, “I finally get it Grandpa.”  It turns out that the wood box has come to symbolize the big little moments that I hold especially close to my heart.  The wood box that I would love to be able to sit on outside surrounded by the smell of fresh picked apples would be an apple box that has spray painted on it is “Great Lakes Orchards, Chas Brown.”  There would be 2 of those apple boxes pulled up right beside one another & my Grandpa would be there beside me & I would simply say thank you to our family’s Gentle Giant.  Throughout the year though I do still say thank you with a smile to my grandpa for his legacy of love, humour, gratitude for the outdoors & his special way of making sure that whether you were a soldier fighting beside him, a family member, a community member or a stranger you did not get left behind.  And Grandpa you are so much more than a chip in my wood box of life.  Your love & your encouragement to take myself lightly & to just plain laugh more remain bigger & brighter than ever…you are the whole wood box.

In honour & love of a soldier, a Gentle Giant, a hero on Remembrance Day & everyday.

Love,

Saundie xo

Lest we forget November 11th & everyday.  My heart's hope for you  is that you take time to remember the precious every day heroes in your family that made the sacrifice to serve your country as soldiers.  There are no words huge enough to say thank-you.  The next story sharing will be in 2 weeks on Monday November 23rd.  Be gentle with yourself.