Xavier met his great grandparents Hunsaker on Sunday. Even though we are both sick they wanted us to come visit. After talking it over with my mom, I concluded that posterity may be the most important thing for great grandparents. My mom told me how much it had meant to her grandmother for my mom, though miles separated them, had brought my older sisters to my great grandfather's funereal.
This experience really got me thinking about my own experience with my great grandparents. Currently, none of my great grandparents are living. In fact, i do not recall ever meeting any of them. Though, if I go purely on memory, not looking up actual dates, I do believe my last living great grandparent died when I was five or six. I remember that it was shortly after my mom's dad had died and my mom was debating about whether or not to go back to Minnesota for the funeral. ...anyway, if I was truly six years old when she died, I would have liked to remember something about her and what she looked like.
On the other hand, I feel very fortunate to have gotten to know three of my four grandparents. I grew up just over a mile away from my Hunsaker grandparents. I used to ride my bike to their house whenever I wanted too. I went nearly daily in the summers when I was little. I went to enjoy their company as much as I went to enjoy my grandma's homemade chocolates. Also, my grandma used to babysit me when I would be home sick from school. I remember her reading me the book "Happy Birthday Monchichi Boy" (which I had memorized and often recited back to her) and discussing cherry flavored Tylenol and how awful it was. Whenever I sat by them at church I could count on my grandpa to give me a Lion's Mint.
My Stevens grandparents lived much farther away in Minnesota, and consequently I visited them much less often. However, my parents sacrificed so that our family of seven was able to visit once a year. Once a year we packed and piled into the van and drove roughly 24 hours from Idaho to Minnesota to visit my Steven's relatives and see where my mom grew up. Unfortunately, my grandpa died when I was five. Consequentially, my memories of him are slim and mostly associated with pictures I have seen. One memory, independent of pictures, is that his nickname for me was "Tuby" which, at the time, was endearing. My grandma, on the other hand, is still alive and well. I have gotten to know her surprisingly well for the the distance between us. After my second year of college I decided to move to Minnesota for the summer to try to get to know my Minnesota relatives better. So, in addition to working I spent my time with my grandma talking to her about her life and the life she had with my grandpa. I really treasured this time I was able to spend with her. My grandma is a doer and an adventurer. She is well into her 80s and still goes on at least one or two bus trips every year. She has even been out to Washington DC to visit me. --funny enough, she was also on a bus trip to DC when I came to DC back in high school. I think I may have gotten my travel bug from her.
Getting back to the topic of great grandparents... I wonder how much our little Xavier and other children will get to know their great grandparents. I am towards the end of the grandchildren on the Hunsaker side and am just getting started with having children, whereas some of my older cousins are already grandparents themselves. I was sent a five-generation picture several weeks ago of my grandparents, my oldest Aunt and Uncle, my cousin her husband, their daughter and son-in-law, and their new daughter. I was in awe. I thought to myself, "Wow! I don't know that Spencer and I will ever have a five-generation picture that includes us. Furthermore, while we are certainly able to take a four-generation picture I don't know that our grandchildren will get a chance to really know their great grand parents--or grandparents for that matter.
As I wrote previously, I really cherish growing up near my Hunsaker grandparents and am grateful for the time I have been able to spend with my grandma Stevens. I am sad when I think about how far away Xavier lives from his grandparents and great grandparents. I mean, I love DC and am very happy there. I am able to maintain a great relationship with my parents and parents-in-law via phone calls and occasional visits largely because I had relationships firmly established with them before we were separated by distance. However, I worry about Xavier's ability to begin and build a solid relationship with his grandparents because of the distance. Even if we visit grandparents in alternate years, one week every two years is just not very much. And this makes me sad. I don't know how Spencer did it growing up.
