The Family Trip & Memories

 The Family Trip

Marion Anthony

The car is packed and ready to go

Loaded with toys, baby food, bottles and baby grows;

For we are going to visit grandparents and stay overnight

Come on we said As the time is getting tight;

In urgency we rushed out of the door, eager to get on the road;

After traveling for a while, there’s a jolt, the car suddenly stops;

We look at each other in horror and shock

Oh No!  There’s something we’ve forgotten…

THE BABY!

Copyright Marion Anthony

 

 

Memories...

Marion Anthony

    I am drinking tea with my dad. Someone I have looked up to all my life. An engineer, he had a workshop in the garden where he made, repaired and sometimes invented things.

 If he was using sharp tools my sister Karen and I would stand at the open door to watch.

He would describe what he was making. I learned a lot. He would sing silly songs and tell jokes as we stood watching.

He was entertaining and fun. When I was very small he made a box on wheels that he attached to his bicycle so I could accompany him on rides down country lanes.

He would tell me the names of trees and birds as we went. Later he made us a tree house with a little ladder and a basket on a rope so

we could haul a picnic up to the platform. At the seaside he created such wonderful intricate sand castles all the children nearby would come and watch and admire.

I was so proud to have such a clever dad. He helped with school homework, giving me confidence. Just like him I loved to learn.

He and Mum proudly drove me to Uni and I was thrilled to be going.

  When mum got cancer, dad took early retirement and saw her through many successful treatment. At dad’s suggestion they celebrated by traveling through Europe in a camper van.

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 ‘How long will your mum be do you think,’ He asks, ‘is she shopping?’

     Mum’s cancer returned. She died four years ago. Dad now 73, was a clever man, diagnosed with Alzheimer’s two years ago.

He is in rapid decline and gets distressed if we tell him his beloved

wife has died. He goes out looking for her. It’s so heartbreaking…

 

Copyright Marion Anthony