A world of their own

We all grow up, to a greater or lesser extent, in a world of their making. In some cases, they are an occasional presence, casting a charm on long summer vacations. In others, they are doting caregivers, witty story-tellers and the backdrop for one’s childhood. 

Regardless of the degree of proximity, grandparents define us in so many intangible ways. They are our link to understanding the past, the context of our present selves, the glue that binds us to our extended families.

Parents perhaps, are our closer friends - whom we love, confide in, fight with and exasperate in equal measure. Grandparents, on the other hand, are ever our indulgent allies. Parents contend with the ‘generation gap’ in our rebellious teens. Grandparents appear more accepting of the fact that our world and we, are very different from theirs and them, and are at peace with the idea. Parents grow with us through the arc of our adulthood, the guiders gradually turning  into the guided. Grandparents, paradoxically, seem changeless, ever present as a reminder of our younger, lighter selves; a window to a world of our childish innocence.

What would childhood days have been without them as companions or providers of sanctuary? And few things remind us so starkly of the closure of this chapter of our lives as the  passing of the era of grandparents. 

The end of an epoch, one may say. An epoch, however, that lives on in the shared memories of two generations, drawing us closer together.