A Story About My Grandpa

by Clare Chapman
A Story About My Grandpa

 

My Grandparents were my most favourite people, they still are, they taught me so much about life and how to treat people, to be humble, to be kind, to never look down on anyone, to never expect things in return, to work hard for what you want and to laugh and love a lot. My Grandmother was the kindest person I have ever met.   To this day I will often think about what they would tell me to do when I need an answer to a question.  They were a constant in my life and I am so grateful to have had them in mine.
It wanted to talk about them today as we celebrate another long weekend and the meaning of that date.  My Grandpa was a school teacher.  He taught at KeriKeri Inlet in the North before being drafted into the Army whereby my Grandmother took over teaching at the school. They then moved to Te Kao to teach and then Maungaturoto where he taught at the secondary school before moving to Waimauku where he taught at Kelston Boys High until he retired.   He spoke fluent Maori, I will always remember coming home from school, walking up the drive and finding the grader driver who happened to be Maori sitting on the verandah having a cup of tea and them both speaking Maori to each other, he always took every opportunity to speak this beautiful language.  I remember sitting on the steps just listening to them. My eldest daughter speaks Maori, I'm proud of that.  We all did a year together as a family when the children were teenagers learning this beautiful language and while it gave me a better understanding of the culture and the beauty I never could pick it up sufficiently to speak it. 
I have lots of my Grandparents books, and this weekend past I was reading one of my Grandpas tiny Maori dictionaries and its proverbs made me laugh, so I thought I would share some of it with you. 

Its a book of Maori proverbs from 1963 and heres some of my favs -

E moe i tangara ringa raupa - marry a man with blistered hands - this one is my favourite

He kino ra, he kino no tau o te wai - I may not be good looking but I am the deepest part of the river 

Mahia nag mahi kei tamariki ana - Make the most of your time while you are young 

Aroha mai, aroha atu - Love toward us, love going from us
 

I know you're probably wondering why I'm sharing this as its nothing to do with my store but I hope you don't mind, loosing people you love, talking about them and memories of them keep them in your minds and I never want to stop talking about my grandparents. They shaped the woman I am today. 
Blog