A New Life, Familiar Heroes
Editor’s Note:
I wrote this article in 2006 when the pages Of Beautiful Summer Morning were still fairly new and readership was small. The article went on to be picked up by many other publications. I thought it would be a good moment to bring it back to you, to read now. I’d appreciate your comments.
Nick
Mum and Dad My Heroes
(c) copyright Nick Grimshawe
A few days ago, I received a copy of my birth certificate in the mail. Nothing unusual, except I’m 57 years old and had not ever seen it. Some when during the packing and moving to bring a whole family to the new world, my birth certificate got lost.
When I read the house address where I must have lived just after I was born, I thought about my parents and their daring decision to pack up their family and transport us to a totally new country called Canada. (In 1957, distances where much greater than they are now; the world has truly shrunk.)
I still remember the debates that raged in our young household back then. I remember Mum and Dad looking at a world atlas, flipping from Canada to Australia back and forth as arguments were presented and shot down.
I know Mum was concerned about the heat. We all ready had relatives in Australia. The heat seemed to be the stumbling block. Dad who served in Yemen during the Second World War, and told some fond stories about Aden and the weather, really wanted to go to Australia. Nevertheless, Mum prevailed and Canada became our destination.
Picture this. My Dad worked on a dairy farm in England. Mum at the time didn’t work.
Back then your wages came in little brown envelopes containing cash every week. But the sum Dad made was minute when faced with a family of five to feed and clothe and house. The opportunity to start over in a land of opportunity must have called to them like a siren on the rocks.
What amazes me is the will power, determination, and sheer guts it took for them to make the decision to pull up stakes leave family and friends behind to fend for them selves in an alien land. No wonder as a child I loved to read stories (still do) of people braving a new world (literally as in Science Fiction) or historically as the opening of the west, the famous Oregon Trail. The independent spirit of people who do such things resonates with me.
I grew up living with my own personal heroes, though as all growing does, I didn’t always view them in the softer glow of retrospective.
Scraping all they had to buy passage on a ocean liner, air travel was not a common method of travel in 1957, our few worldly procession packed in a couple of steamer trunks, we made our way to Liverpool by train. Our aunt, grandma, and granddad traveled with us. There were more than a few tears shed, though I couldn’t really fathom why. I reveled in the excitement of the trip. I remember coming into Liverpool and staring at the bleak row houses that slipped by row after ugly row, with laundry hanging on cloth lines looking as drab and shabby as the city. I’m sure that is not a fair summary of Liverpool but that is my memory.
Mum and Dad My Heroes
From there on there are flashes of memory. I remember standing on deck just as the ship began to slip its birth. I was confused by the physics of motion and wasn’t sure the deck would stay beneath my feet. I remember letting out a slow sigh of relief when I realized I didn’t have to walk to keep the decking under me. Just as I relaxed, the ship’s horn sounded making me jump ten feet off the wooden planks.
Mum and my sisters where struck down almost instantly by sea sickness and spent much of the voyage, off again on again in the cabin. I didn’t miss a beat. I roved the ship mostly without supervision since Dad’s time seemed to be taken up with nursing. He gave me a quick tour and showed be how to find my way back to the cabin, which was at the water line, and left me to my own devices. I had a blast.
On that trip I discovered, corn on the cob, blueberry pie, and green peppers.
When we docked in Montreal, I left the ship with some sadness. We’d been through storms when no one was allowed on the upper deck and I’d seen icebergs slip quietly by as we pass Bell Island Newfoundland, and had made friends with some of the crew. The brutal task of settling-in lay ahead.
But I’m sure Mum left with relief, looking forward to getting the family housed and restored under her command.
The train trip from Montreal to Guelph Ontario took us through the night and the early sunrise hours of the next day. I didn’t sleep a wink. I sat with another lady and we eagerly read off the station names as we rolled to a stop at each place. In the dark, I couldn’t fathom what lay beyond the window, but as the sun rose a whole new world came into focus. I remember my excitement as I looked out at the endless fields and forests, river and lakes that whipped by the window. I remember the smell of the new world as it streamed by.
I didn’t spare a thought for what my Mum and Dad might be imagining as we rushed headlong to our new life. Mum had been up most of the night as well. I don’t think either of us was at all tired.
Around ten in the morning suddenly, after all those stations along the way, it was our stop.
Mum and Dad My Heroes
A whole new adventure began from the moment we stepped off the train.
Those were exciting times for me. I was old enough to understand and remember what was happening but young enough not to have experienced uncertainly or fear of the unknown, or any of the other negative emotions or attitudes we develop with growth. (That’s another story.)
In retrospect for me, I lived a high of adventure, an experience that played a role in shaping who I am. But for Mum and Dad, I cannot image what emotions were churning in their minds. All I know is they joined the legions of brave souls who adventured out into the unknown with nothing more than faith, hope, and a wish for a better life.
These days skeptics seem to be winning the battle against the dreamers and the adventurers of our world. To the jaded, cynical, ho-hum attitude to adventure Tadalis SX and exploration these people mouth, I have one question. What do you think our world would look like with out the millions of heroes who set out from their homes to find new worlds? We are indebted to them all.
Sometimes we look far a field for our heroes. Look right in front of you. Chances are there is a hero standing there.
Our Dad has gone on ahead of us yet again. However, my Mum is still alive and continuing to demonstrate the independent spirit that led our family here. Though she is now legally blind, she continues to lead a full active life, not content to sit at home fearing to venture forth, which would be out of character.
The other day on the phone, I asked her if this address meant anything to her: 45 St. George’s Drive, Victoria, S.W. 1.? After a pause, she said, “Yes, we use to live there!”
“Where did you get that address?”
“On my Birth Certificate,” I replied.
Nick Grimshawe
Post Script:
Sadly Mum left us earlier this year. In our Beautiful Summer Morning Newsletter for Friday I included this quote:
You can kiss your family and friends good-bye and put miles
between you, but at the same time you carry them with you in
your heart, your mind, your stomach, because you do not just
live in a world but a world lives within you.Source: Frederick Buechner: Telling the Truth
Which started this whole sequence of events, because truly you do carry a whole world inside. There still are my Mum and Dad full of life and laugher.
Nick
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Tags: A new Life, adventure, courage, heroes, love, new worlds, travel
Hello Nick, Thomas here just got your invite to your site, i must say that the heroes in our lives are usually right under our noses lol , At your fingertips and on your headsets too lol some are long gone like my rabbi Jesus and some are just out there making apperiances to give out great speaches to spur each other on in coaching, business, like my mentor Frank Kern and in other venues. Thank you for the invite my Canadian friend. God_bless you in everything you do. P.s. Nice family
Nick that is a lovely story and you have presented the surrounding information in such an interesting way.
I love that your mom is still as strong a character as she was back then.
Mine is too. We laugh a lot. She is 93. And needs a bit of help so it is almost assisted living but I am the caregiver.
I am thinking of the song “precious and few are the moments we two can share…”
I like your work and thoughts. Keep in touch.
DonnaB
http://lazzeo.com/bydpb
Hi Nick,
What a great rememberance. I relate to heroes, having had them in my own family…thankyou for sharing yours.
Susan
Hi Nick,
I read very carefully your story about your family, your trip to another country and your heroes, Mum and Dad. I really have some tears in my eyes thinking of what we would going to do as a family but we never did, as my parents were killed some months before my father’s travel to Australia.
I agree with you, our first heroes are our parents. They are my heroes too, as they may would live many more years but they lost their lives trying to save some stuff from our home, before half of our village slip down after 40 days of raining. I was 7,5 years old.
Thank you for sharing this.
Warm regards,
Dimitra
Good Morning Nick,
First may I wish you a happy 2 weeks of vacation!! (I am selfishly happy that you are only leaving us for 1 of those weeks).
I thoroughly enjoyed your article. What an awesome, brave and determined journey for you and your parents and brothers and sisters. I am glad you decided to post it again.
Have a safe one!
Judy
Hi Thomas,
Good to feel your presence on these pages.
I think there are more heroes all around us that we give credit for. If we stop for a moment and offer up gratitude for our life, I think then the heroes in our life materialize all around us.
Thank you for the blessing.
Take care my friend.
Nick
Hi Donna,
Thanks for much for your comments. I agree ” precious and few are the moments we two can share…” is perfect. I will have to pay a visit to YouTube to see what I can find.
Nick
Hi Susan,
Yes I think there are heroes in every family. Sometimes it takes awhile for the “kids” to recognize that fact.
I am glad you enjoyed the story.
Nick
Hello Dimitra,
My heart goes out to you. Losing parents is never easy but when you are so young it is a lot harder. However, they still are your heroes and they died in an act of giving to their family.
I am glad you had a chance to read my story. Each story told brings another one into being, from which we can all learn.
Thank you for sharing a little of yours.
With Love
Nick
Hi Judy,
Yes just one more sleep and I will be on vacation!!!! I will not be absent from my blog, but I will away from the newsletter as you said, for only a week.
I re-posted this story because I was directed to do so. And last night as I scanned the picture of my Mom and Dad, taken before digital pictures had taken over, I felt touched by there presence. I found it comforting and uplifting to see them peer out and me from these pages.
That is a very special treat, I am sure you can understand.
With Love
Nick
Dear Nick,
Thank you for the invite.
What a lovely testimony to your parents and heroes!
I, of course, the big softy that I am, had tears in my eyes. Can’t help it.
My Daddy has and always will be the hero in my life for reasons that are too many to relate here. He has passed on but I walk in his light. As you quoted, “a world lives within you.” There are all sorts of heroes in my life, I’ve realised. You are right in that once you show gratitude for your life, the heroes manifest themselves.
Being an adventurer myself (although I didn’t take my family as far as your parents did), I’m always searching for the next life adventure and the love in the universe that manifests along with our heroes.
Angel cuddles dear Nick,
Sarah, an English lady in France
Hi Sarah,
Thanks for your comments. I loved this line: “…once you show gratitude for your life, the heroes manifest themselves.”
Thanks for the Angel cuddles, as well.
Best
Nick
Hi Nick,
This brought back fond memories of my parents as well. My father was born in Quebec, Canada and migrated to the United States with his family when he was young, perhaps as young as you were. My father was 4’11 1/2″ tall which was important because my mother was 4′ 11″ tall. He would always call her “The little woman.” Although short in stature, my father was a gient among men. He fought in World War I and re-inlisted for World War II. I was young at that time, however four of my brothers plus my father all served in combat and all returned home. My father believed in family and also believed in decency. He held down two jobs and sometimes three. He was also a Carney. He had a couple of Midway games, one of which was a Dice Game. It was similar to the blocks on “The Price is Right” where they roll blocks down a ramp with different money amounts and a symble of a car. However these were two Dice and whoever had their money on the correct combination won. A burly man began to push my brother around used profane language towards him. My father heard the commotion and went to see what the problem was. I thought that my father was going to be hospitalized as he rolled his sleeves up. I heard him say to the man that “No one swears at my children and no one calls them a cheater. You need to apologize or else!!” The man laughed, looked down at my father and said, “Or else what, little man??” Shortly thereafter the burly intruder was placed on a gurney and carted off to the hospital. My jaw was on the ground. At 4′ 11 1/2″ tall the main job that my father had was working for Swift & Company as a butcher and delivery person. His normal routine was lugging full sides of beef back and forth tothe freezer or whatever. I always new him as a gentle man, however on this evening I saw how he defended family. Those that go up against insurmountable odds, whether it be travelling to strange new countries or defending their family against intruders both here and abroad are true heroes.
God Bless you for this most inspiring story. These heroes are never gone but with us always.
Your friend
Mike Caron
Hi Mike,
First of all let me thank you for commenting. I always appreciate when people stop by and leave a comment or ask a question.
Now let me thank you for those beautiful words and the awesome story of your father and your memories. I love the story and I hope others stop by to read your comments.
I like your summation:
“Those that go up against insurmountable odds, whether it be travelling to strange new countries or defending their family against intruders both here and abroad are true heroes. ”
We sometimes confuse the idea of hero with the larger than life superheroes of the movie screen. But all around us are everyday people doing heroic things.
Thank you very much for sharing.
Nick
I had to read your post twice to get the full impact of it. I enjoy reading what you have to say. It’s unfortunate that more people do not understand the benefits of coaching. Keep up the good work.
RT @ngrimshawe: A New Life, Familiar Heroes http://bit.ly/c9aIeH