My grandmother Marie or (“Nan” to her grandchildren) was a truly inspirational woman. She passed away last summer and I find myself thinking about her often as I travel and study here in Singapore. I could go on and on for hours about about her life and achievements because she was an amazing, engaging, elegant and intelligent woman. As a geographer her curiosity and life-long love for learning encouraged her to lead an active life of traveling all over the world. Since arriving in Singapore, I feel as though I have also developed this love affair with travel, an expensive new passion that I hope will also define my life as it did for her.
Today, as I was walking home from the pool on campus I thought of my Nan. She was physically active her whole life, as even while living alone she would go for swims or at my cottage she would walk the whole beach everyday (maybe even twice). Almost all of my memories of my Nan include her being tanned from the last place she had traveled to or seeing her laying on her lawn chair the second it was warm enough to be in a bathing suit with a good book. I think she would be proud to know that I have been using the pool just like she would have, alternating between laps of the pool, tanning, and reading. I also know that she would have been so excited to hear all my stories and thoughts on all the places that I have traveled to.
Last spring I was fortunate to spend a lot of time one-on-one with my Nan before she passed away. One day for example I helped her type out a list of all the countries she had been to and it was very, very long. She traveled for her academic life as well as for fun, even taking me on my first trip to Europe when I was 13. Although my list is not quite as long as hers was I hope that one day I can sit with my granddaughter and share all the stories of my travels as she did with me. Since arriving in Asia three months ago I have visited 7 countries: Malaysia, Singapore, The Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Hong Kong (China), Cambodia. My list is only going to grow as my final month in Asia will be spent traveling more of Malaysia, China, Vietnam, Laos and more of Thailand. Could life get much better than this?
Today, as I was walking home from the pool on campus I thought of my Nan. She was physically active her whole life, as even while living alone she would go for swims or at my cottage she would walk the whole beach everyday (maybe even twice). Almost all of my memories of my Nan include her being tanned from the last place she had traveled to or seeing her laying on her lawn chair the second it was warm enough to be in a bathing suit with a good book. I think she would be proud to know that I have been using the pool just like she would have, alternating between laps of the pool, tanning, and reading. I also know that she would have been so excited to hear all my stories and thoughts on all the places that I have traveled to.
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| My Campus Pool |
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| I brought this photo of us walking at the cottage together with me to Singapore. |
I miss my grandmother very much. This summer will be my first summer not returning to my summer camp, YMCA Wanakita and I will hopefully get lots of time at her favourite place in the world, Inverhuron. After seeing the world, I can agree with her in that there is no place quite like Inverhuron, where the family members talk all at the same time & loud, the sunsets beautiful and the days filled with good food and company. Even after seeing some of the world's most famous beaches, I have to admit I cannot wait to spend a hot summer's day lounging on the beach with my parents, cousins, and friends looking at beautiful Lake Huron.
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