We celebrated Jolliffe camp last week - it’s hard to fathom that 15 years have passed since the first fab three were born - Sara in February, 2011 - Levi and Talia in June, 2011. Two more grands came along in the next two years - Caleb in October, 2012 and Luke in May, 2013. 2015 was another big year - Adele and Ian were both born in January and Tyson was born in April. The last two J’s are Jake - born in October of 2017 and Indigo - born in February of 2018. Ten precious souls.

CAMP JOLLIFFE. Every summer since the kids were born - Randy and I hosted Jolliffe Camp. It was the time when the grandkids came to our place without the parents for a couple of days and nights. No parents. Just the grands. What a joy and delight it was for us to have our grandchildren in our home and to give their parents a couple of days of rest and relaxation. 2012 and 2013 - it worked out perfectly - the way we planned! 2014 - we were to have all five - Randy’s passing changed that. We did have Camp Jolliffe in 2014 - but it was different - we were blessed by a family in our church. They lent us their beautiful cottage in Muskoka for a week - where we could be together and grieve Randy - the original Jolliffe - the patriarch!

Adele Vida - was born 6 months after her Grampie went to Heaven. Pete and Heather named her well - her names mean “kindness and life” in honour of Randy. Adele’s birth verse was John 10:10 - “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” Life came again to our family.

It was while Pete and Heather were in Moose Factory having Adele and I was over in Moosonee with the boys - Levi (3) and Caleb (2) - that the Grampie stories began. As I cuddled with the boys at bedtime - Levi asked me to tell he and Caleb stories of Grampie. And so it began.

Stories of Grampie’s garden - how he carefully prepared the soil each spring -how he decided which veggies to plant - where to plant them - when to water them - when to harvest them. I think Randy loved to plant potatoes most of all - he loved the thrill of digging them up and seeing how many were in each hole. He said it was like digging for gold. When Levi was at our home in Everett in the summer - he loved to eat the beans right off the stems. And the cherry tomatoes too. The summer before - Randy had been nursing one particular tomato plant and was eyeing the little darlings, ready to put them in a salad - but when he came home from golfing, Levi had eaten every single one of those cherry tomatoes. We had a good laugh over that. In November - just 4 months after Randy’s death, I dug the last of his carrots out of his garden that he had lovingly planted the previous spring. I sat on the ground beside the garden and bawled my eyes out.

Stories of Camp Jolliffe.

And of course, hockey stories. Randy loved to watch hockey and he loved to play hockey too. As a kid he dreamed of playing in the NHL. That never happened but he played pickup hockey when we lived in Orillia, Listowel and Cambridge. He passed on his love of road hockey to our boys and to the grandkids. One of those nights I was telling Levi a particular story of Grampie and his love for hockey and Levi said - “I liked to play hockey in the driveway with Grampie”. My heart broke. I started to cry silent tears while Levi chatted about his own love for hockey. Finally he said - “Grammie? Grammie? Are you crying?” Levi started to cry too and kept saying - “Don’t cry Grammie. It’s okay Grammie. I’m here with you.” I felt so bad for making him cry. What a sweet tender heart. At 15 - he still has a sweet - tender heart. And Levi is still playing hockey - in Kincardine - for the West Coast White Caps!

Stories. Stories and more stories. Stories of camping. Stories of Grampie being a pastor. Stories of Grampie running a marathon. Stories of heroism. Stories of climbing the great Port Hope hill. Stories of building the deck. Stories of building the basement - the shed - Talia’s sandbox. Stories of building toy boxes. Story after story. Night after night.

I told them so they wouldn’t forget.

And now - we’ve had 12 Jolliffe camps since then. We added Harvey to the family in 2016 and he fits right in.

As the grand kids grow up and older - I see many of Randy’s mannerisms and smiles and actions and looks in them. Two of my grandsons have very curly hair - just like Randy did. Most of them have very long legs - just like Randy did. (Seven out of ten grandchildren are taller than me). They all have great smiles - just like Randy did. Some of them play hockey - just like Randy. Some play volleyball - just like Randy. Some play guitar - just like Randy. Some are great public speakers. Just like Randy. And all of them are really nice people. Just like their Grampie.

His story has become - in part - their story.