The photo is of two generations in my family – my mom and my granddaughter. Two of my granddaughters came to spend a couple of days on the farm with us this weekend. They live in a city. They only do farm when they come to see me. It’s a foreign place to them – somewhat interesting as long as the bugs don’t get too close to them out in the field. That’s the difference in the generations. I come from a long line of people who worked the ground on my father’s side of the family. On my mother’s side my grandfather and great grandfather were blacksmiths. That’s why the dad in Angel Sister is a blacksmith.

None of my children followed in our farming footsteps. Or blacksmithing either as far as that goes. All my kids live in towns. I can’t imagine. I like having fields to walk in, woods to explore, and even weeds to pull although I haven’t done a very good job of that this year. Plenty of weeds to pull. No time to do the pulling. Of course I’m sure city lovers could counter with the things that are better about the city.

Whichever way, it’s fun to come visit grandma out in the county. And we came by Mom’s to give her a quick look at the girls before they headed home. Both girls were extra sweet to Mom, answering her questions once and then again when Mom forgot she’d already asked the same question. And Mom certainly enjoyed her sight of them. That’s one of the things people in nursing care facilities often miss. The sight of children. Just hearing or seeing a child can light up an elderly person’s eyes and makes the day brighter.

That’s how it was for Mom too. She probably doesn’t remember now that they were ever here, but somewhere she stored the memory of their hugs and smiles in her heart. Generations apart but forever family. I like the idea in the quote above. That we get to hold the torch of life for a little while and then pass it on to the generation rising up to push us on out of the limelight.

Hope you have a great week with all your generations.