RE: Travels With Cleo and Gunner Life Changing Moment
Oh my – what an ending! You've had a dramatic life, and I look forward to reading what happened next.
I love the bit about shaking the hand of your grandfather and so on. It's that feeling of being connected to history, and history fascinates me. It seems to bring those world-changing events closer somehow. I had similar thoughts, though not quite so personal, when watching an old episode of Weir's Way a few days ago. You won't have heard of Tom Weir - he was a well-known figure in Scotland, a hiker, hillwalker, writer and broadcaster who produced several series of TV programmes in the 1970s and 80s, none of which I watched at the time. However, now being a passionate hillwalker, I am starting to catch up. And I feel a vague connection with Tom Weir, as he lived quite near me, and I used to have an elderly neighbour who was a great friend of his and frequently talked about him.
On one of the old shows I watched, Tom Weir spoke about meeting an old man in during a hillwalk in the 1930s whose father's great uncle spoke about fighting at the famous Battle of Culloden in 1745. Those kind of connections remind us how great historical events can live on through the generations.
I have a Scots connection. My Great Grandmother's parents were from Scotland. He was a third son so got his degree at the University of Edinburgh and a boat ticket. He was an engineer on the Bridge of the Gods (the first bridge over the Columbia River). The area reminded him of home so he stayed. My Great Grandmother was his daughter.
I knew her. I am honored to say that I was a pall bearer at her funeral.
That's lovely! You're so lucky to have known your Great Grandmother, and to have kept that wonderful family history alive.
Funnily enough, my father's story is a bit similar, but in reverse. He travelled to Scotland from the Bahamas in order to study at Edinburgh University (the Bahamas was a British colony at the time.) He met my mother at Edinburgh University and decided to stay in Scotland :)