“You know, Beth, you never seem to realize how fast time slips by until you take a minute to look back. That’s when you can see how far you’ve come and how things have changed. On a daily basis everything just keeps moving along. When life is running smooth, we keep going along with it and try to enjoy the ride.
We tend not to observe how fast our children grow or how much we age. Those transformations just happen. One day we just wake up and realize we’ve hit middle age, and our children have turned into adults, right before our eyes. My goodness, time just seems to fly!
I guess it’s all part of the circle of life. We teach our children how to become strong, self-sufficient adults, preparing them to go off on their own to enjoy life and chase their dreams. They find their own mates and start families of their own. That’s what keeps the cycle continuing forward. And that’s our real purpose here.
But it’s not the easiest transition in life, for a mother to watch her children grow and mature from a tiny babe into an adult, then, to simply wish them well as they head off into the big vast world on their own. Somehow, we still feel the need to be there to help them out every step of the way, to protect them and keep them from harm’s way. It’s hard to let go and watch them leave the nest, but that’s just what we have to do. We give our children wings and teach them to fly, so we have to let them soar with the eagles when their time comes. It makes a mother’s heart burst with pride, for it surely is a beautiful thing!
All our children attended continuation school. That’s the equivalent to today’s high schooling. That was pretty significant. Most children didn’t get that opportunity back then. We had to pay to have the oldest of them boarded out in town. It wasn’t until 1940 that school buses were provided to take the country children into town. Chase was almost done his final year when that first started. Only our two youngest ones were bused every day to attend high school in town.
One by one, as they finished continuation school, they headed off to pursue their dreams. Six out of the lot of nine went on to graduate from formal education. Three came back and settled close by. With each one’s departure, it got a little easier letting go. I had to learn to trust in the fact that we’d done a good job raising our children, knowing that they were good and capable people. Seeing how they blossomed as their dreams were being fulfilled was true testament to that.
When Mary Beth graduated from continuation school in 1934, she was very intent on becoming a nurse. It wasn’t a new desire for her. She had talked about it for years, so after being accepted into the two year Hospital Nursing Program, she headed north to the city to start her training. I was so proud of her, but worried at the same time. She was my first to strike out on her own. She ended up moving to Toronto to take a nursing position once she graduated. She married a lawyer from down that way and that’s where they settled. They had three children.
Murray wasn’t far behind his twin sister. In early 1935, he moved to Toronto to live with Logan’s brother in order to attend university and study dentistry. He worked at the family store to pay for his room and board and help with his school expenses. It was a three year course back then. After he graduated, Murray set up practice in Toronto with one of the other fellows he went to school with. They were really good chums and Murray ended up marrying that fellow’s sister, and they had five children.
James went off to Business School in 1938 for several years and came home to work with Logan at the store. He eventually took over the business when his father retired in 1955. He married a local gal that he’d been sweet on, and they had six children.
Charity went north to the city to Teacher’s College after she graduated continuation school in 1939. She took a position at a grade school in the same city after graduating. She married a teacher, and they set up house there, not far from the school where Charity was teaching. They had two children.
John joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1940. He saw lots of action during World War II. He was gunned down and taken as a prisoner of war by the Germans for a short time just before the war ended. He stayed on in the Air Force and made a career out of it. He married a gal from Halifax and that’s where they settled. We never saw much of them till after his retirement. They had six children
Chase joined the Canadian Armed Forces in 1941, right after he graduated continuation school. That was during World War II. He was killed in action during the invasion of Normandy in June of 1944. He was only twenty-one. That was a very difficult time for me. Once again, war had stolen a piece of my heart and cheated a young man out of the opportunity to die of old age. It just about tore my heart out. To lose Chase was like losing Royce all over again. A piece of me was gone.
I know Royce would have been so very proud of his son. Chase was the spitting image of his father. He had grown into a tall, handsome, robust young man. His smile could warm the heart of any young lady, and his keen sense of humour made him a pleasure to be around. I’m not sure if Royce would have been supportive of his choice to go off so readily to join the forces in Europe, though. Royce had endured the vigors of the cause himself, and he had seen so much death. He knew how the loss of Jed and Dalt had just about broken me, and he wouldn’t have wanted to tempt fate again.
Janice attended Secretarial School in 1942. She was hired on by a firm in the city to the north. She worked there for several years. Then she worked at Bell Canada as a telephone operator for a time till she married and started a family. She married a mechanic, and they had eight children. Their home wasn’t far from where Charity and her family lived. They all shared a really close life. They had become such good friends during their childhood years, and it made Logan and me happy to know their relationship followed them into their adulthood.
Jacob and Jackie graduated from continuation school in 1949. Jacob moved to the Toronto area and worked in a car factory for several years, but he hated it. He missed the north country terribly. He moved back home to help James run the store when Logan retired. He married a local gal and had four children.
And Jackie, your ma, attended Hairdressing School. She met your Pa when they were attending continuation school. His family owned the grocery store in town, and he eventually took it over. Your ma set up her own hairdressing shop and ran it for forty years. They’ve lived in town all these years and raised you four youngsters.
The whole lot of them turned out to be wonderful, hardworking people. We ended up having thirty-eight grandchildren between the works of them. Every summer we would all try and get together and have a reunion. That was always such a fun time. It was such a joy to see all the grandchildren and have the time to play with them and fuss over them.
Of course, we saw a lot of Jacob and James’ crew. They lived real close by. We visited with Jackie on a regular basis, too. She’s my hairdresser, as you know. Charity and Janice would drop down usually once a month. In later years, when we had more time, we made the hour drive north to the city to visit with them.
Murray and Mary Beth remained close their whole lives. They lived about a half hour drive apart. They liked to visit us in the summer months when the roads north from Toronto were more predictable. As time passed, the roads were greatly improved upon and travelling was better. Logan and I travelled south to visit with them, too, as much of his family was still there.
As I said earlier, we didn’t see much of John or his family until the later years. After he retired from the Air Force, he and his wife came more often. They liked our summers and would stay for a month or so. His wife was a painter and loved the landscapes in this area.
At any rate, that’s the paths our children chose in life and travelled down. As hard as it was to see them head off and leave the nest, it brought us great comfort to see how well they did in their own lives. We were proud of every one of them. It’s so true that children enrich one’s life. They all bring you such joy. We were fortunate to have good children. Not one of them brought us any serious grief, outside the normal hellry and mischief children get into, but that’s all part of learning. After they had all left home, I would often think about the wonderful times we’d had while they were growing up. I have such wonderful memories of all the children, so many precious memories, for sure.”