SENSE AND NONSENSE

January 1977 Sense and Nonsense

Over the Christmas holidays we managed to visit with almost all of our offspring. We have one of those space-age families consisting of “his”, “hers ” and a very small “ours” which makes for more than the average number of offspring. Quite a few of these are married and rapidly forming little “ours” families of their own.

During an idle moment I counted these younger and more beautiful replacements of ourselves. The total was larger than I imagined. I read somewhere that you really know you are “over the hill” when your descendants outnumber your friends. I suggested to my husband we had better start making some more friends – and soon!

I am not sure what “over the hill” really means. At a recent birthday party for a 25-year- old, she dismally mentioned that she was now “over the hill.” I expressed amazement and asked her if she was over the hill, what did that make me?

“Oh, that’s a different hill,” she explained. “You’ve already been up and over my hill, now you’re climbing another one!”

I wonder how many hills we have to climb before we reach the final one. A few years ago our neighbor’s daughter married and moved to Vancouver Island. The area where she lived was reputed to abound in oysters, crabs and other edible seafood. Our neighbors planned on visiting their daughter and also bringing home some of these delicious foods. My gourmet palate tingled with envy. I mentioned that I hoped my daughters would marry and settle down in varying agricultural areas of the country. Then I too could visit them and collect the goodies which grew locally.

“Maybe one of them will move to the Okanagan into the “fruit belt” and the other will live somewhere along the coast in the “seafood belt.” I hopefully commented. An elderly gentlemen, the grandfather of the new bride, had a better idea. “Wouldn’t it be nicer if one of them married into the “money belt” he suggested with a twinkle in his eye.

Some families in this modern era find themselves re-related to one another through re-marriage. One husband and wife found themselves re-related to each other when his mother and her father were married. Their children suggested that the marriage made their parents step-brother and sister. They insisted on addressing their parents as “Auntie Mom” and “Uncle Dad.”

Oh well, although we may be “over the hill” and so far none of our children have married into the “money belt” I believe we should count our blessings. Our youngest child is not too confused about her relationship to us. Sometimes she calls her dad “Uncle” and sometimes she calls him ‘”Grampa” but when she really wants his attention she knows a loud “Daddy” is more than sufficient!