Guernsey Connection

       

4 Generations - Sarah, Mom, Virginia, me

One day while scanning the piles of as yet unread books in our house, I came upon one called – The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I picked it up and opened the cover. A typed piece of paper flitted out.

        Mom had read the book and passed it on to me. The typed note was hers. The book had affected Mom so much that she jotted down a couple of comments. She wrote that the book is about Guernsey, an island in the English Channel, and during World War II, the children in Guernsey were evacuated to England for safekeeping. Then Mom's note continued:

        Apparently, England also evacuated some children. I was reminded of a conversation my Aunt Isabel in Canada had with my parents while in my presence. It seems friends of my Aunt and Uncle had taken into their home 2 sisters from England for the duration. The friends mentioned how hurt they were that the girls never sent letters, notes of appreciation or correspondence of any sort after they returned home.

        Isabel was my Mom's father's sister. She and my grandfather grew up in Canada with another sister, Doris, and another brother, Alex. Isabel married a dentist, and they raised their children in St. Catherines, Ontario, often spending summers at a second home in Bobcaygeon, Ontario. Mom's note illustrates a personal connection to the events in the book! How strange it must have been for the two English sisters to be so far from home. The beauty of St. Catherines or Bobcaygeon and the generosity of complete strangers, must have been so hard to grasp mixed with the girls’ missing their parents and home. It is sad that the sisters did not keep in touch afterward – yet, it is easy to see why they might not have wanted to.

        Sometimes the present is all we can have.

        And thanks, Mom, for the note!

20200309 33 Guernsey Connection