Mac was satisfied with their mother's account of her own childhood and where she had come from; but it had only opened up more doors that Mac wanted to explore. They had heard from their mother and her siblings - but they wanted to know more. And who better to tell them than their grandmothers.
Mac tried to visit their grandma's every few months. The years had taken a lot from them in old age, and the triplets had sequestered them back home from Tartosa to keep them close by and safe as old age began to take its toll on every facet of their lives. Heather and Jenny lived in a retirement home, albeit one that had every luxury of a resort. Whenever Mac visited, they were always busy with some activity or social engagement.
This time though, Heather was excited to see her grandchild to tell them stories of her own life. She broke out her old family photo album, the one she had held onto her whole life, with the precious few photographs she had to show where she herself had come from.
'My mother and father were married, and they had me and my brother. You'd see these photos and think we were the perfect family, but I learnt from a young age that things aren't always what they might seem from the outside - my Mom was unhappy, and my Dad was a workaholic. After my parents divorced, Dad married again and moved away, your classic mid life crisis. But even so, as a young girl I missed him so dearly.'
'I guess that's the benefit of never having known my Dad,' mused Mac. 'I can't miss someone I never met.'
Heather smiled at her grandchild. 'Such an insightful one, aren't you? You can't miss what you never had... except your own memories. I did always want to see that big house we grew up in one last time before my time is up.'
Mac had a great idea. 'Why don't we go there, granny? Just for a look?'
And so Mac took their elderly grandmother on a road trip to San Sequoia, to the address of the home she had grown up in as a child in the 80s. Except when they arrived, the house didn't look the same.
'Well, I guess it's to be expected,' sighed Heather. 'All old things get remade into something new.'
Mac didn't want their grandmother to be sad; but as they went to turn around, a family came out of the house - a Mom, a Dad and so many children.
'Sorry to have bothered,' said Mac. 'It's just, my granny here grew up in this house as a girl, and she wanted to see it one more time.'
The family were excited to hear Heather's story, and invited them into the house. It was a beautiful, sunlit home with all the marks of being well lived in by a young family. It was nothing at all like it had been in Heather's childhood - and yet, she smiled as she looked around the space, remembering that her childhood had existed right here too in a different time.
'Are you okay, granny?' asked Mac. They didn't want her to be feeling sad, like her childhood had been destroyed.
Heather smiled and hugged her grandchild. 'Not at all my dear. Another family lives here and is making their memories now. Think of the beaitiful layers and layers of happy childhoods that exist here. I am glad that this home is still loved.'







