Miss My Granddaughters

I never fully appreciated the impact of Irish emigration on my grandparents’ generation. Millions of Irish got on board coffin-ships and left their home land. Many never returned to the Emerald Isle. Never saw their family again.

Last fall, my oldest son, Luke, who is the author of Lebanon Red – https://www.amazon.com/Lebanon-Red-Luke-McCaffrey-ebook/dp/B09Y2BS5L3/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2L1SZW7ZVNBYK&keywords=lebanon+red+by+luke+mccaffrey&qid=1692956139&s=digital-text&sprefix=Lebanon+Red%2Cdigital-text%2C222&sr=1-1 –

packed up his family, left his job as a Denver Firefighter,

sold his home and headed off with his Aussie model wife and three beautiful daughters to Oz.

Australia has a mythic feel to it for most of the Irish. It was a penal colony where the more incorrigible Celts were sent back in the day. You had to be tough to survive there. Perfect fit for Luke.

I completely understood and supported the move. Georgie had spent over a decade on our shores, married Luke and gave us three wonderful grandbabies. Her family was back in Australia. They deserved to share in the familial joy.

Luke wanted a better life for his family. He wanted to write his next book. He’s found all of that in Oz.

Recently, Luke posted a very cool video of his family playing on the beach in their new home. You can’t fake happiness.

But mustn’t grumble. The girls attend a wonderful school, live in an amazing home (backs up on a Koala preserve – how cool is that?) with their loving parents and rescue mastiff, Cairo, who Luke and Georgie brought from NYC and then Berthoud. And they live close to a beautiful beach. Luke’s got a solid day job that allows him time to write and be a Dad.

I love seeing the girls going off to school with books in their hands. Georgie works at the school so it’s really convenient. Scarlett, who may have the family gift, is patiently awaiting her acceptance letter to Hogwarts. No surprise she went with JK Rowling. Harry Potter rocks. Savanna, who shares the most faerie blood with her Wallen side of the family (through her great aunt Dina), naturally gravitated to Marissa Banez’s wonderful book about faeries, Hope and Fortune. Thanks Marissa.

I couldn’t make out what Stella was holding but she appears to be mid-incantation in the photo, so she is obviously falling in with the pack.

The last memory I have of the girls was them playing in my living room, with Blue, just before they headed off to California for their very long flight to the bottom the world.

I hope to see them again someday. But until then, I have incorporated them all into The Claire Saga as characters, along with my grandson, Lucian,

who lives in Atlanta. In the books, Scarlett and Savanna are sisters who teach a young Claire how to talk. They grow up to be witches. Stella is a Centauri-Terran Hybrid who grows up to be Proxima b royalty. Lucian comes from Terran roots but has his own heroic and extraterrestrial transformations.

You see, my grandchildren may be out of my physical sight, and reach, but they are never far from my heart. And they will always be together as characters in Claire’s literary world. She’ll keep an eye on them. That much I can ensure.

Hopefully, someday, they will all read my books.

Well, it’s Friday. Need I say more.

I’m heading out for my kitty cuddle and my rounds.

Maybe Lisa and I will got to breakfast at Grandpa’s Café in Berthoud.

Then deal with the last day of my workweek.

Tomorrow brings the farrier for the mules latest mani-pedi.

And weekend chores.

And I need to put WTLLM to bed.

But you fine, five readers have the whole weekend before you.

Don’t squander it. Do something special. Read a book. Read another to your kids and/or grandkids.

And whatever else you do today, make it a great one.