Today we celebrate Remembrance Day to honour the fallen soldiers who gave up their lives in the war. I answer my kids’ questions about the war and I buy my poppies; I also donate change for my son’s classroom collection and I remember.
Fallen leaves
Last week I spent a full day picking up leaves in sunshine and I also remembered my grandfather. He had two maples in front of his Prague villa and every fall I would help him rake the leaves into piles. Once we were finished, he would hand me a box of matches and go back to his incredible stamp collection.
Those matches were the best gift ever. In 2018 Canada, neighbours would most likely report my grandpa to social services. But this was the 1970s communist Czechoslovakia. The entire city burned coal so the smoke from my leafy piles was a minor nuisance. Except when local women hung out their laundry outside to dry. Then I received hate mail.
Grandpa
I loved my grandpa! He had a Ph.D. in law and on Sundays he made me English black tea. He also corrected my coarse Czech words with French and German substitutes.
Years later I found out that grandpa spent the entire war playing pool with his university buddies! Yes, I don’t have any stories of heroic feats and partisans fighting in the woods.
Recall that unlike Poland, the Czechs decided not to fight the German war machine when it invaded. This is why I got to enjoy my grandpa until my parents defected to the West through Italy. Today I’m happy as a Canadian living on the West Coast.
War on leaves
Now let’s get back to the leaves. Since I love trees, I don’t worry about freshly fallen leaves. Normally I pick up what I can on site and leave the rest for the following week.
I actually had a great time at work. I stole some work time to shoot pictures in the November sunshine; and I remembered my grandpa. He made me the pyromaniac I am today. Now, summer provincial fire bans stress me out.
Enjoy your Remembrance Day! I will be standing on the sidelines cheering my soccer star son on but I will also remember.
