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Home › Diaries › Dawn › July 11, 2003

Dawn's Diary Entries

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July 11, 2003

Bragg Reunion

Last weekend my whole family minus my brother Geoffrey went to my father's hometown of Greenspond which is a 2 hour drive from here. This is where my father and his parents were bron and raised. As a child we visited the family home there every summer until I was 15, when my grandfather passed away, at which time the home was sold. As my father was only 1 of 2 sons he was very close to his cousins and as everyone seemed to vacation there at the same time I became close to their children as well. ALthough many of the other families int he Bragg family still visit there frequently, we have not been there as a family in many years. SO I was very excited to return again last weekend for a huge family BBQ on what is called Bragg's point. Greenspond is a small island outport connected by a causeway to the mainland. Fishing has been the main source of income for the 600 people who live there for years. Bragg's point is named for the section of the island where our family lived (and still have 2 homes there) centered around a fishing stage and a small wharf. The Bragg's were mainly inshore fishermen, owning small fishing vessels and fishing on a daily basis, rising early in the morning and returning late into the night.

I think there were about 60 people in attendance at the reunion, and there were still many others who were unable to attend. Everyone was excited to meet William and there were a few new counsins added to various families over the past few years who I am not yet met as well. A lot of the family were at our wedding 4 years ago, but this was the first time such a large group has gotten together since the Greenspond come home year in 1997. It was a rip roaring good time, the Bragg's are a lively loud bunch and I am sure the whole island was within ear shot of our party. A herd of whales were blowing a few miles off shore and the weather was the warmest I have ever felt it in the usually cool community. OF course not having our own place to stay and toting a young child we returned at around 9 pm to my nan's house in Gambo, however the party (and my father) continued into the wee hours of the morning.

On the way home, the current owners of my father's old house were outside. My mother stopped to say hello and told the young girl (who I used to be friends with way back when) her husband used to live there. She remembered our family and invited us in to see the old house that for me holds so many memories. I have passed the house on various day trips to the island int he past 13 years and have always wanted to go inside, so we all jumped at the chance to have a look at what is looked like now. My memory of the house is incredibly clear, and although I knew it would look different I still expected to see the same woodstove in the corner of the kitchen with the same day bed against the wall. And it was really strange to see that the livingroom and dining room were make into one big room and that new oak cupborads now surrounded the whole kitchen not just the one wall. The rooms were painted in modern colours and the floors had new laminate laid down. The stairs looked exactly the same and the rooms upstaris seemed so much smaller. William, who is usually so clingy when we go into a new home instantly got down to explore the premesis, taking a liking to the toy room that now occupied the smallest bedroom where I used to sleep as a child as did my father. It was almost as though he knew where he was and felt at home. I wasn't as teary eyed as I always imagined I would be upon entering the house again, probably because it looked so different, but it was still really nice to take a glimpse into the past and remember the good times I enjoyed as a little girl.

Toys toys and more toys

I have been on sort of a mission lately to obtain some bigger toys for William at a low cost. Specifically I wanted to get him some sort of play fort or slide. I had looked in Wal-Mart for ever looking for a slide and any new community we passed through I checked there as well. Everywhere I looked they were always sold out. THen one day last week we were taking our weekly stroll through the toy aisle and William spotted a small Little Tykes slide. I don't know where it came from, perhpas a return, as I looked a dozen times for that exact item, never successful. I was marked down to $25 so I didn't hesitate to buy it. He was thrilled of course, and we will just consider it an early birthday present. Later that week I went yard saleing with my nan (I am currently looking for old cookie jars, plates, jars etc) and found another Little Tykes slide, the one I bought is just the basic slide, but this one has a platfor with a roof over it) for $10, so I got that one too. Will is picking it up today so we wil see how William likes it. William has also aquired a battery powered trike. My uncle gave it to us while we were is Gambo visiting nan over the past weekend, it belonged to my cousin and is now 15 years old. But my day bought a new battery for it and it works perfect. William drives it like a pro. We bought him a helmet of course, and hole the handle as he drives it. He is suprisingly good at steering, and Will has even brough him all away around our block ( I usually only go halfway up our street, I'm really nervous though).

It seems however, that in a two week span William has received more big toys than some kids have in a lifetime. This of course makes me feel like he is being spoiled, and raises the question of how much is too much. As I drive around town however, I see that other backyards are filled even more than ours with toys as we do try to limit ( I was also tempted to buy him a chalkboard for $7, but passed as I don't want him to come to expect new toys like this all the time) but there are many kids who get by just fine without near so much as William. I do take comfort in the fact though that most of his toys are hand me downs etc, but he doesn't know that, he just sees lots of toys to love and enjoy. I would love to hear about the toys your children play with, and how you know how much is enough.

Dawn



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