Hello to those who take the time to read my mental meanderings through space and time.
Last month I was blessed with a grandson. I was not quite ready for the emotional avalanche which followed. I suppose it will take a long time for me to fully comprehend the value of this new gift.
One of the first images I got was of my Gran and Grandad looking after me when I was a little boy. We lived in a mining town and they had just emigrated from England to begin a whole new life in Africa. Many years later I would learn that one of the driving factors for them coming to Africa was that Granny Jean wanted to see her 3 grandchildren grow up.
We were blessed with the opportunity to spend a lot of time with them. Jumping in the dam at the house in Rustenburg for Christmas and helping Granddad renovate the home for Granny.
My grandparents made time to teach me many things from sewing on my own buttons as a young boy to eventually building a house from scratch. My grandparents always tried to teach me to think before I acted, look before you leap and many more truisms from the old ways. Like all young headstrong people, I rebelled against everything and everyone. Gran and Grandad never judged and never tried to make lite of serious things.
I now have to pass on that same love and patience to my grandchildren and in the process reverse some of the damage I and modern materialistic society have done to my children. Amazing how such a little person can change a man almost 50 years old.
I awoke this morning with renewed passion and vigor to build an empire for them to rule. I want my children and their children to have roots and somewhere to call home. I have lived most of my life as a traveler or citizen of the world. From today the empire we build will be for generations to come.
I now have a new reason for building affordable and self-storage for all. Imagine if our parents “yes the baby boomers” could have kept all those memories they accumulated from 50 years of life. They could have stored them in safe secure well-built self-storage facilities. More and more I understand the importance of leaving a legacy for our children. Whether it be a dynasty or a family treasure of little value to anyone but that family. Once a memory is lost it is gone forever.
I was just thinking about the cot I bought and renovated for my 3 children, how cool would it have been to let my daughter have that for a period till the next grandchild arrived. Maybe a simple thing like a receiving blanket to wrap him in. Once all the grandchildren are born it simply gets stored in a little storage unit somewhere waiting for the next generation.
Prams and strollers, train sets and dinky cars, action men with tanks and cars. For girls the Barbie dolls and dresses from your mother or a porcelain doll from your grandmother. Wow, the compounded impact on people’s lives would be phenomenal if not fantastic. We would all grow up having a sense of history and purpose. All those printed pictures and photo albums that if stored in a clean dry space could be preserved for another 100 years.
Let me not waste any more time with inane drivel and platitudes. Time for work and play in the correct proportions. Have a great fortnight till I write again,