magnificent charles comes home today. how wonderful it will be to see him.

my sister (helpful pam) and father (showtunes/frugal blake) left today. dad heads right back up to yellowknife, but pam is spending a few days in vancouver with our grandparents.

my grandfather has been in a nursing home for almost one year. as a nurse specialising in geriatric care, pam can talk to the nurses in the home and be of real assistance to my gran. my gran visits him every day, and keeps her home spotless. keeps the home fires burning, you might say.

this isnt the first time my grandparents have been separated. in the 1940’s my grandfather, a banker not a professional soldier, was stationed in saskatoon for basic training. his sweetheart was two provinces away. letters were irregular, calls, almost never. when my grandad learned deployment was imminent, he called my gran, and, accompanied only by two suitcases, she took the train to be with him, and to become his wife.

the leader of the squad, who she met the day before she was married, walked my gran up the aisle. another new friend was matron of honour. could this have been the wedding day she dreamed about? or the marriage?

they set up house, gran got pregnant, and grandad headed off to war. gran still has the letter he wrote her after jon was born. the greeting is firm and clearly written…and the handwriting discentegrates quickly afterwards. the celebrating must have been good, "somewhere in europe" that night.

imagine what it would have been like to be a war bride. no cnn, no emails, no direct dial calling or fax machines. just the news. that was never specific enough. where young boys on bicycles carrying telegrams were feared.

gran raised jon by herself. yes, everyone was doing it, but that didn’t make it any easier. because she didn’t know if it would be this way for the rest of her life. never knowing if jon would meet his father. never knowing if her husband would hold her again, if they would be able to enjoy the future he was fighting for. if he would be able to exchange the youth he was wasting in a battlefield for old age.

yes he survived. and received a hero’s welcome when he came home. it wasn’t HIS fight, but it was his country, and he fought for the ideals our country held high. what a hero! cried the country.

but then the years passed, and other tragedies occurred, and suddenly, those vibrant men who fought for our freedom are scorned. passed briskly on a sidewalk. alone at church.

the veteran’s assistance groups are not swift in returning phone calls, they are understaffed and so many of the vets are now requiring medical assistance. times are tough, many bills which should be covered, are not, because resources are slim and the need is great.

what can i say, except thank you. to both gran and grandad. what courage you both displayed. how great your sacrifice.

my grandparents have seen quite a bit of the world, but i think the trip that meant most to them was in 1995, when they returned to holland to mark the 50th anniversary of the freeing of the netherlands.

the dutch people couldn’t do enough for the veterans. young children ran out just to touch the Canadian heroes, host families treated my grandparents like royalty. we owe you everything.

parades, speeches, acknowledgements.

gran was thanked for her sacrifices. held hands of people who have directly benefited from my grandfather’s, and maybe your grandfather’s also, courage, and beliefs. i wish i had been there to see everything.

i wish my children had been born and were there. i will always remember the sacrifice, but as the number of surviving veterans continues to decrease, will the next generation? will sebastian see november 11 as a bank holiday?

charles leaves for weeks at a time, my grandfather was gone for years.

i love you both, i thank you both.

after you read this, can you please contact a war veteran? a relative, a friend’s grandfather, or a stranger you see at a ceremony, or a widow of a war veteran and tell them thank you. they don’t need our thanks, they didn’t give the best years of their life in order to get thanks, but freedom is worth at least a thank you.

thank you.