Perspective

Both my grandfathers came overseas during WW2, as very young men, much younger than I am. I'm not sure one of them had ever been far from his rural Ontario farm. When I was in Edinburgh eight years ago, contemplating getting on the next plane home, I found some comfort in sitting beside the same floral clock (in the Princes' Street Gardens) that he had been so impressed by nearly sixty years earlier. Even now, when I get homesick, I think of how much more overwhelming it would have been for them, facing genuine hardship and knowing they might never make it back to Canada. I don't think I'd have been strong enough.