This has been quite a Spiritual and Familial learning weekend. I spent some time talking with my parents about their fathers and learnt some interesting things. I asked my dad about his father (for whom I’m named after) and he told me that he used to love reading comics, too. He was a heavy smoker who passed away in 1973 from health-related issues. (I always believed he wasn’t alive when I was born) He was a Prisoner of War in the UK for 6 years, which explains why I used to believe that he actually died in the War. There are no remaining artifacts or memorobilia from his time in the war/army. As my dad explained, they were either sold off (his pistol, for example) or re-used (his clothing). I saw a couple of photographs of him and I can easily see my dad’s features in his face. I also found out he worked for the courts after the war and was the one who would write up the documentation regarding bankruptcy notices and IOUs. I’m sure I’ll have more questions to ask next time. My mother’s father, I still have memories of. He died in 1978 and I had seen him at least 3 times so I was old enough to remember. I never knew his name, though, and found that out: Francesco. He probably had middle names and I’ll ask my mom about them next time 🙂
In terms of other family stuff, it was my mom’s birthday on Saturday. We had a small celebration, really, but we did get her a gift which she really liked. We went over last night and shared some cake and discussion (which is where I pulled out the old family albums and began the family discussions 🙂 )
Chantale, the kids, and I also spent about 4 hours driving around on Sunday visiting houses. We went through Vaudreil-sur-le-lac, Dorion, Ile Perrot, and Notre-Dame-de-l’Ile Perrot. Saw 6 houses and it was exhausting! But, it’s also quite exciting (while being somewhat scary at the same time 🙂 ) Our house is out there. We just have to find it 🙂
All in all, a pretty nice weekend with the kids on a journey of self-and-family discoveries. Something we’ll be thinking about for many years to come…