Grandmothers are the best, and I am lucky to have the BEST Oma ever. I have so many wonderful childhood memories of time spent in Komoka with her and my mom's family. I can think of almost nothing I enjoy more than hearing stories about what it was like living in Holland during the war, or immigrating to a country where you do not speak the language.
Yesterday was my Oma's 88th birthday. It also was the date of her wedding anniversary, and much later, the date my Opa was buried. Oma has had such an interesting life, immigrating to Canada in the 1950s, after WW II was over, though that was not her original intention...
She was raised in a Catholic household, along with her nine brothers and sisters. When she was in her late 20s she decided, after working for a period of time as a nurse/social worker/mid wife, that she wanted to become a nun. After speaking with the convent it was suggested that she think about this and that perhaps she should go to Canada and spend some time visiting with her five siblings who had already immigrated to Canada with their families and were running their own farms. While visiting one of her sisters in Ontario she happened to meet a Dutch man who had very recently immigrated to Canada and was staying with her sister. Instead of returning to Holland (and the convent!) she stayed in Canada and six months later she and my Opa were married and less than a year after that she gave birth to my uncle Adrian. Now she
has six children, nine grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren, all of whom love her.
She is truly one of my favourite people in the whole world and I want to take this opportunity to publicly wish her a happy 88th birthday. I wish I could be there to celebrate with a couple games of rumicube and perhaps some dominoes! I hope your celebration is full of things as sweet as you are (like perhaps beer with sugar, her fave...).
Happy 88th Birthday, Oma! Here's to you and another happy and healthy year!
With so much love,
Melissa xo
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