Your Great-Grandma Dyon

This is you with your Great Grandmother Margaret. Her birthday is on July 26th. The first one of these was in 1922. That makes her 88 years old in just three days from now.

Not everyone has a Great Grandparent (like your Mom). And no one has one who loves their Great-Grandchild more than you do, that's for sure. Auntie Shanna and Grandma Kat were pretty sure they would have to lay down a drop-cloth in GGMarg's house for her first meeting with you. Why? Because they were certain she would simply explode with joy when she met you for the first time (she didn't explode, but she did make some amazing noises.)

For her birthday, I am afraid that this blog post pales in comparison to actually getting to hold you, but it's the best I can do at this distance. Few things in this world come close to the happiness a person can feel when they see their own child meet the people who have brought him up. It's like the universe coming full circle as you, now only a baby, look into the eyes of a person removed from you by three whole generations. It's a special gift not many people get to give to their children or, indeed, to their grandparents and so it was really special for you to be with GGMarg so close to her birthday. In a word, YOUR presence was the best present she could ever have gotten.

You likely will not remember the event, however, so I will fill you in on some details that you may not know about GGMarg. She was born in the family home by midwife only miles from the great Saskatchewan sand dunes. She was 17 when the Nazis invaded Poland and about 80 when she sent her first email. She didn't know English until after she was 5 years old but now prefers English to the German she and her parents spoke at home in Fox Valley, Saskatchewan. She was 33 when she had your Grandma Kat - the same age as I was when I had you (well...when your Mom had you...who is also 33). She was a nurse before she married GGKeith and it was at the Antler Hospital that she discovered information about feminism...a full 18 years before most people would ever hear about it. Being deeply Christian she sneakily baptized Shanna and I when she was left alone to babysit us. She only recently told our mother this information.

As you can see, she has had an action-packed life thus far. None of that held a candle to holding you for the first time, though. I was there...I could see nothing but the most youthful excitement about looking into your eyes (and that's saying a lot about a woman who has enough energy to routinely get up at 3:00 am to putter around and bake).

There is no doubt that you are deeply loved by your Great-Grandmother. What was beautiful to see is that you have deeply loved her back. And to know that you have likely now been baptized when I wasn't looking.

Wish your GGMarg a very happy birthday for Monday. I love you, Snickerdoodles.

Daddy