Illumination
Grandpa gave me a little book of poetry and quotes. He said when he bought it he had thought of Tom and I. The day before Grandpa passed away, I took the book with me to hospital to visit him with Jamie. I sat by his bed and held his hand. He still put together who we were, and had appropriate questions in his exhaustion. I asked if he remembered the book and if he wanted me to read him something. He said yes. I read him a couple. This is one I read, and he listened with his eyes closed. It was very sad to know that was going to be the last book we would share.
Grandpa’s Letter
I think we get our love for facts from Grandpa. . When we weren’t able to see each other during Covid or in general, we wrote letters to each other. This is one I found to Archie ❤️ When I later asked why he had used that paper, he said it’s all he could find from when he had stayed there once. I miss him so much, and the kids do too. Comments here and there of ‘Oh remember when Great Pa said this’. Very lucky that they met and had some quality time together.
Man on the sidelines
Here’s a picture of Grandpa at my sisters wedding - encapsulates perfectly his presence at every important event.
He would always show up, at every monumental stage of life whether it was grand or whether it was small.
You could always expect grandpa there to celebrate your milestones, impeccably dressed and proud. ❤️
Also a picture of grandpa at my cousin Katie’s debutante.
I wish there was a picture of him dancing with me at my valedictorian dinner that he proudly attended. He asked me to dance and he was apologising to me about stepping on my feet, but said he would try.
We were the only people on the dance floor, doing a two step shuffle.
The memory warms my heart 🤗
Also included photos of grandpa signing the weeeing certificate when my brother Mike married his beautiful Erin/Ezza with grandma. ❤️
Grandpa holding his granddaughter Isla on the day of her birth, wearing a fresh pressed shirt turning up at the hospital to greet her and give Claire and Jamie his love.
Grandpa loved his family in every way.
Marian McQuinn
59w
Telephoning Dad
Happy Heavenly Fathers Day Dad! My first time using this app. Telephoning Dad was sometimes frustrating as he lost his hearing but always funny. Growing up we were taught the correct etiquette to answering the phone. Also the very important things and people you could connect with by consulting a Telephone directory and actually calling someone. Dad worked for PMG which later became Telecom and later Telstra. We had inside views in to Telephone exchanges and visits down deep underground to other sites which was of course very exciting as a child.
Dad was very stubborn about the new technologies and it took a long time for him to use a mobile phone. It always struck me as incongruous as he was a technician.
The daily newspaper was a vital part of Dad's life. He always read the The Herald and hated The Sun. I would sneak a peak at the paper after school and before he came home from work. I was constantly scolded for mucking up the order and for crumpling the paper before he got to it. He always read ALL the paper and so was a fount of knowledge.
When the Herald became The Herald Sun, Dad switched to The Age which became HIS paper. Quite often he would scoff at how the news in The Age was always inferior to all other newspapers. The facts are journalism has fallen to many more lows now it's difficult to know what's true or not. I miss talking to Dad on the phone and now I'm older and unwell I think I really understand better how it may have been for him
Eye contact is very important
There are so many lessons learnt from grandpa, he had so much wisdom to share.
He would generally ask me if I knew the answer to something, and then go on to educate me when I didn’t.
In a world where everybody hurries, and every one is moving so fast; grandpa would move slow. He would take the time, to be present, to be focused; but to truly share in the moment with you.
Grandpa wouldn’t rush. And that’s something I think everyone needs patience in.
He would always instruct me that eye contact is very important; and I believe this is so very true. To continue a conversation with someone, it is important to hold eye contact and truly converse rather than idle chit chatter.
Grandpa made your conversations feel important because you would properly engage with one another.
I miss him so very much, and even more so in every important milestone of life.
In the passing of time, there seems to be more and more monumental events that you can feel his absence.
Grandpa would always show up. He made the effort to be at every family event, looking his best with his bags prepped with everything he needed, and, as always; a jacket, just in case.
Whenever I leave the house it’s a mantra I remind myself and think of grandpa.
There are so many memories, and yet; not enough.
I wish for more time with him, in sharing more life and more stories.
There were so many more things yet to do.
Grandpa was always there. In a way I think I took this for granted, and always believed there was more time.
We made a start on documenting his stored photos to record the dates and the people in them, yet we never got to finish this task. It was nice to sit there with him and learn about the people in the photos, a time before I was born with people I did not recognise, yet learning more about grandpas life in a time before me. I wish we could go back and I could learn more. I would ask more questions, I would put in more time.
Grandpa loved to chat on the phone.
I have always been terrible at answering my phone, as it lives on silent, much to his dismay. Grandpa would always question why it was on silent and instruct me to turn it up so I could hear it. It would usually be a battle of missed calls and voicemail and answering machines before we met in the middle.
I miss sharing pieces of my life with him, and having him offer advice.
I miss the real cups of tea as he would say.
Properly made. In a teapot. Pre warm the teapot. That’s the mistake that people make. They don’t warm the teapot first! And you have to let the tea brew for the right amount of time before pouring it out.
He was a man who knew how he liked things and generally didn’t deviate from this. Although he would suffer through a teabag tea while out somewhere.
I enjoyed the sense of ceremony in sharing a pot of tea with grandpa, and cherish the fact that he showed me how to make a pot of tea properly. And it I forgot, he would just go through and explain it to me again.
There are many lessons in life to be learned from grandpa.
Sometimes it’s in the perspective and in the mindset. It’s how we look at things and being pragmatic and practical about how we tackle things. Sometimes a little bit of planning goes a long way into our future.
This is something that grandpa was great it. He was always good at looking ahead.
With the whiteboard up on the wall, dated with every important birthday so he would never forget.
Every year, I would get a birthday card written out with my full name, dated in the corner with my actual birthday and the year that it currently was.
Grandpa had such beautiful cursive handwriting.
Brian, 1855.
Love you grandpa. Hope you’re living it up, up there. ❤️
Gramps
In my adult years Grandpa & I would speak on the phone. He would always ask how we all were, and what the kids had been up to. We would discuss world news, and he would ask me if I had seen the cross word in the paper to which I would say no. Then he would usually ask me if I knew any of the hints, and again I usually wouldn’t 🤣 He would tell me the answer the next time we spoke. Grandpa would always tell me we are incorrect when referring to our chickens as chickens, and explain the difference between chickens, pullets and fowls. He recollected growing up and going into
The backyard with his brothers to play with the fowls- then come back inside and make his Mum mad because they would all be covered in dirt 😊
During Covid we would write letters to each other, and he would always ask great questions to Archie in his beautiful hand writing. Grandpa showed up to visit me and meet Archie & Isla when they were both born. With Archie he had driven himself and with Isla he went to the effort of a Taxi. Both surprise visits, and at the time I was tired but thought how lovely it was that Grandpa had combed his hair and put on a crisply ironed shirt. In my younger years I took a lot of time for granted, as Grandpa spoke about things I had no clue on but as I was older I appreciated his stories, and wish we had more time as I really enjoyed his company. He was a great and clever man, and we were so blessed to have had him for the time we did. ❤️
