{"id":19912,"date":"2019-03-27T22:26:35","date_gmt":"2019-03-27T22:26:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thesojournseries.com\/bavaria\/?p=19912"},"modified":"2019-03-28T22:27:36","modified_gmt":"2019-03-28T22:27:36","slug":"over-tea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thesojournseries.com\/bavaria\/over-tea\/","title":{"rendered":"Over Tea"},"content":{"rendered":"

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March has been a funny old month so far, full of dust and noise in as far as the building work goes (but the end is in sight and it looks amazing – I can’t wait to show you!), it’s also been full of birthdays –\u00a0 my now 12-year-old (yes, I still need to do his birthday post!), Mr R, and my wonderful Grandfather who reached the amazing age of 98…<\/p>\n

Although we are much more settled in this part of the UK thanks to the close proximity of family and friends (and the added bonus that we know the area well),\u00a0 I haven’t really hidden the fact that I can probably count on one hand the amount of times that I have thought to myself “I am so glad we are back”.<\/p>\n

It’s hard to ignore how different the UK feels thanks to various things (including glaringly obvious political happenings) a couple of which you might not even notice if you hadn’t had the same “leave of absence” (not to mention the fact that I have probably changed quite a lot as a person since the last time I lived here!), but one thing I will be eternally grateful for is that in this past year I have been able to spend a lot more time with my grandparents (who live a mere 19 minutes away, as opposed to the almost 3 hours in Cambridge, and probably a couple more hours on top of that when we were in Munich and Denmark).<\/p>\n

Together we have been able to catch up on a lot of lost time.\u00a0 I have been able to spend hours with the pair of them, to walk with my 93-year-old Grandmother (a mile a day is pretty amazing at that age I reckon!) frequently, and last Thursday, a couple of hours after my 98-year-old Grandfather sadly succumbed to the cruel disease that is Alzheimer’s, I was able to get in the car, drive over, sit with the pair of them and just be there<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Whilst this all might sound slightly morbid, it was an unexpectedly beautiful experience.\u00a0 Everything felt peaceful and calm. It was a privilege to be able to say goodbye to my Gramps, and sit at his bedside along with my Grandmother.<\/p>\n

Over tea I listened once more to the incredible story of how they met<\/a> in the Holland during\u00a0war, and the countless precious tales of their lives together, before we took it in turns to reminisce over endless family memories.\u00a0 \u00a0 Over tea we cried and laughed in good measure, whilst the Welsh National Anthem played in the background (I think I must have heard it around at least a fifty times that afternoon. I can at least now claim to know some of the words!) until it was time for her husband of 72 years to finally be taken away.<\/p>\n

And now, instead of being hundreds of miles away, I can be here as the family comes together to celebrate his life, probably over many a tale, and of course plenty of tea…<\/p>\n

Maybe there’s some truth in the saying that you are meant<\/em> to be in a certain place at a certain time in your life.\u00a0 It might not make much sense at the time, but I promise you at some point it will…<\/p>\n

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