![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Conversations with the parents
May. 11th, 2005 10:53 amMy parents got back yesterday from the Netherlands. They flew over for ten days with my Grandmother, my father's sister and brother, and my uncle's cousin. They went over to participate in the 60th anniversary of VE day, with the regimental association of the Lincs, my grandfather's regiment.
And they had a blast. My mother especially (my father was a bit too incensed with the Canadian federal government to completely enjoy the experience, I suspect).
Now, my mother is not a flyer. She loves watching planes from the ground, but getting her on one usually involves sedatives. She's definitely an aisle seat kind of girl. She flew to Vancouver with my father when I was a year old, and to Jamaica once when I was a teenager. But that was with my father, so it was difficult but not insurmountable. She flew solo for the first time last year to visit my brother when my SIL was due to give birth (and Dad flew out to join her so it was only one leg). Her first completely solo trip was to visit me in March of this year. She got a bit lost in Atlanta. And this trip to Europe was the first time she's ever been out of the hemisphere.
So I must admit that I was a bit shocked when she was so enthusiastic about the trip and the flight. And when I said "So, Australia next?" and her reply was "Oh no. Ireland. We flew over it coming and going and I really liked what I saw, so we're going to go back" I was completely floored (in a great "this is a very cool thing" kind of way).
Anyway. It was a good trip, and my parents have a picture of my grandmother, riding in the Apeldoorn parade, being offered a beer by a Dutch citizen.
On the bittersweet side, my grandparents' friend A's breast cancer has spread to her lymph nodes, and she was noticibly ill, though she participated fully in the visit. So while it's good that Grandma got to see her so much on the trip, it was with the knowledge that it'll almost certainly be the last time Grandma does see her. A and her husband are the couple who flew over from Europe for my Grandfather's funeral, and then flew back the next day for a funeral of another friend over there. They're wonderful people.
And they had a blast. My mother especially (my father was a bit too incensed with the Canadian federal government to completely enjoy the experience, I suspect).
Now, my mother is not a flyer. She loves watching planes from the ground, but getting her on one usually involves sedatives. She's definitely an aisle seat kind of girl. She flew to Vancouver with my father when I was a year old, and to Jamaica once when I was a teenager. But that was with my father, so it was difficult but not insurmountable. She flew solo for the first time last year to visit my brother when my SIL was due to give birth (and Dad flew out to join her so it was only one leg). Her first completely solo trip was to visit me in March of this year. She got a bit lost in Atlanta. And this trip to Europe was the first time she's ever been out of the hemisphere.
So I must admit that I was a bit shocked when she was so enthusiastic about the trip and the flight. And when I said "So, Australia next?" and her reply was "Oh no. Ireland. We flew over it coming and going and I really liked what I saw, so we're going to go back" I was completely floored (in a great "this is a very cool thing" kind of way).
Anyway. It was a good trip, and my parents have a picture of my grandmother, riding in the Apeldoorn parade, being offered a beer by a Dutch citizen.
On the bittersweet side, my grandparents' friend A's breast cancer has spread to her lymph nodes, and she was noticibly ill, though she participated fully in the visit. So while it's good that Grandma got to see her so much on the trip, it was with the knowledge that it'll almost certainly be the last time Grandma does see her. A and her husband are the couple who flew over from Europe for my Grandfather's funeral, and then flew back the next day for a funeral of another friend over there. They're wonderful people.
