Granddaughter Visits..38º

Friday afternoon 2pm, from her dorm room at OSU, Cienna "chimed" in via FaceTime...She had text me on Wednesday and asked if we would be available, because she was working on a paper for one of her college classes and needed our input...We got right down to business as she had a list of questions for each of us...She wanted info about past generations, birth, marriage, death dates, when did they arrive in the US, were they discriminated against, what level of education did they have, what was the occupation of the head of household, did the women work outside of the home?..We covered 3 or more generations, talked and visited for over an hour via the computer screen, almost like she was sitting in the room with us, (minus the hugs) and without the 340 miles (X2) of driving from Portland.

It was so good to see her smiling face, hear that familiar voice and laughter...Takes me back to the memories of all the years gone by, when she actually came for visits on a regular basis, even before she could walk or talk!..Brings tears to my eyes, as I cherished those times, knowing that the day would come when visits would be less and less as she grew into adulthood.

She is pursuing a degree in teaching, with the hopes of travel, to teach english in foreign lands...We support her in those endeavors even though it will mean more visits via the internet and less real hugs...She got a taste of travel/foreign countries when at 16 years of age, she boarded a plane for Thailand and spent almost a year there as a foreign exchange student...Last year she returned to Thailand for a 3 week visit and renewed her desire to travel, but returned home knowing that her education should come first...Follow your dreams Cienna...Special hugs to you today, from Oma and Papa...OWAV:)

Cienna, age 6 and Papa

Cienna and Oma

Cienna a Junior in College