Wise Guys

I had my weekly catch up chat with my marvellous grandmother today. We are extremely close and share all our truths about the world and the funny things we have done. Today's topic was a book called Empty Cradles by Margaret Humphreys. It's about a generation of thousands of British orphaned children during the 1930's to 1940's, during the war,that were sent off to British colonies like Australia and Rhodesia with nothing more than their birth certificates because the orphanges were costing the government too much money to run. Most of the children were younger than 13 yrs old and were put to work like slaves on farms, often being raped and traumatised. The saddest thing is that most of these people still to this day have no idea where they came from and never had a childhood at all. They lost their whole identity and sense of heritage and family life. Britains big dark secret...read it!

They would be my gran's age today. As we discussed the book and what it would feel like to have no sense of belonging and purpose, I thanked my lucky starts once again for the privilege of having such a loving family and childhood. Most of my childhood also happened to be spent with my grandparents. There aren't enough words or pages to express the things I learnt and the life lessons they gave me. My grandfather was a man who gave up fortune and ego to be the best father and grandfather anyone could ask for. He seemed to be able to do anything and everthing. This picture was of his workshop where he made beautiful pieces of woodwork, fixed all things broken and spent hours dreaming up new creative projects to get his hands stuck into.

I love that older generation. They seem to be the concrete from which our current generations are lying on. People seem to forget how valuable their wisdom and insight can be. Not mention the wonderful stories of things I could not even imagine anymore in this day and age of technology and fast-paced living. And MAN!, are they a funny generation too. When you get to that age, you stop caring about what people think and really let loose, become a child again.
Cheers to all the Wise Guys out there...Salut!