CONCLUSION

 

CAMP NANAPAPA

As the years swiftly passed our children grew up, went off to college, married and began having children of their own. We were fortunate to live reasonably close to our grown children and their families and the pitter patter of little children’s feet once again resounded happily in our home when they came to visit. Becky and I decided that we would be known as “Nana and Papa” to our grandchildren and our new title would eventually grow to include certain activities for fun.

Becky had the idea that we should have a Camp NanaPapa where we would have the grandchildren visit us for several days in a row. This would give their parents a break, give us a special time together with the children and hopefully encourage the grandchildren to become lifelong friends as well as cousins. Thus began the much anticipated and thoroughly enjoyable Camp NanaPapa!

Becky and I hosted the camps in several fun locations and always had a different camp theme with planned activities each year. A sampling of our camp themes includes music camp, beach camp, pirates camp, building a soddy camp, thanksgiving camp, Swiss Family Robinson camp, science camp and others. Activities like music recitals, digging on the beach to find buried pirate treasure, taking rides in little trailers behind our bicycles, doing science experiments, climbing on rock climbing walls, observing wildlife, making their own teddy bears, building a treehouse, sliding on Slip and Slides, water balloon throws and custom painting their own Cousins Club playhouse were always met with giggles and smiles. Events like the aggressive alligator at our Hilton Head condo that had to be captured, Teddy and the cheese, and the Italian ice guy at Oak Island and the call of “Cousins Club Emergency” will hopefully bring smiles to their faces even today.

Camp NanaPapa eventually branched out to include Bank NanaPapa as an incentive to encourage our grandchildren to save money. The grandchildren could “open an account” with Bank NanaPapa and would be paid 5% monthly on money they saved, up to $100. All 8 of our grandchildren soon deposited their money and began receiving their $5 interest payment checks every month. We continued this “monthly savings dividend” for many years until I retired. When Bank NanaPapa closed in 2020 the grandchildren were given their original $100 back as well as a double dividend interest payment. I don’t remember how much all those monthly checks we wrote added up to, but it was another fun thing we were able to do with our grandchildren and was worth every penny.

Thirteenth birthday trips were another offshoot of Camp NanaPapa. Becky and I decided that when each grandchild reached 13 years old, we would give them a choice of trips to take with us to celebrate their special teenage birthday. From cruises to tropical islands, trips to Walt Disney World and fishing excursions in the Everglades we enjoyed traveling and spending quality times with each of our grandchildren. Their birthday trip choices were:

Addison – Cruise to Grand Cayman & Cozumel

Whitman – Walt Disney World – Caribbean Beach resort

Natalie – Cruise to St. Thomas, Tortola, St. John & private island

Teddy – Walt Disney World – Coronado Springs Resort

Nicole – Cruise (where the ship crashed!) to San Juan, PR

Tyler – Walt Disney World – Port Orleans & Old Key West Resorts

Isaac – Fishing excursions to Sanibel Island, Florida and the Everglades

Nadia – Walt Disney World – Caribbean Beach Resort

 

I believe that Becky’s original hope of Camp NanaPapa being a bonding time between us and our grandchildren and our grandchildren to each other has been a wonderful success. 

REFLECTIONS

Writing my Papa Stories has given me occasion to remember many of the humorous, and sometimes poignant, events that have influenced my life. The home I grew up in with my parents and three sisters was what I remember as a comfortable, safe, and loving place to grow up in. There were the usual disagreements and differences of opinions over the years but as an older person I now understand that things do not have to be perfect to be good.

 I have lived in thirty-nine different houses in my lifetime so far and am thankful that there has been much joy and love evident in each. Becky and I were only nineteen years old when we got married and moved into our first home in Florence, SC in 1971. Laura was born in 1972, Matthew in 1975 and Ashlea in 1976 so we began our family relatively early and, in some ways, “we grew up together”.

Everyone has their own life story to tell and will remember their life experiences as only they can. In the few stories and reflections I have recorded in Papa Stories perhaps my children, grandchildren and possibly great-grandchildren will have a peek into portions of my life and be encouraged to write their own, never-ending story.