A few years ago my family forever changed. Holly’s brother finally tied the knot with
one of the most amazing women I have ever known. Derek Is a fighter pilot currently flying the
F-35, but a few years back he was stationed in England where he met
Rebecca. They took their vows in a
cathedral in St. Andrews Scotland. To
say that the trip was magical would be an understatement. It was a fairytale, and we got a whole new
family from the other side of the pond.
After the wedding festivities were over, Holly’s family and I took off
in a rental car and began to explore the northern half of Scotland. I had never been north of Edinburg, so I was
excited to see the land of Wallace, of Bruce, and my own family heritage the
McFarland’s.
Before I go any further, a disclaimer of sorts. I hug people.
I hug everyone. I encourage
people. I am affectionate. This is a family trait that is in my
DNA. The Grate family is a touchy feely
family. We cry, we hug, we give. And then we cry…all the time. We cry when we are happy. Sad?
We cry. When we enter into
worship we cry. When we end a face-time
session with my nieces and nephews, we cry.
Touch is a major part of our expression of love not only for each-other,
but for, well, anyone we come into contact with. We are verbally and physically
affectionate. It is not flirtation, or
an expression of inappropriate love. We
hug, we kiss, we love. If you are
offended by my families hugginess, please inform us and we will switch to
kisses on the cheekJ
Our first stop on our highland tour was the quaint and
magical town of Perth. As we sat down to
eat lunch I never even opened the menu.
Fish and Chips for me please! I
finished before everyone else and began to wander the streets of ancient
Perth. About fifteen minutes before we
were supposed to leave I began looking for a place to sit near our car so to be
ready when the rest of the family arrived for our departure time. Perth was surprisingly busy on this
particular day. I glanced across the
street and saw an opening on a bus stop bench.
Sitting there were 5 adorable Scottish women, with a space directly in
the middle of all of them. I walked
across the street and asked if I could sit. I then said ,”I hear the most beautiful women
in Scotland sit on this bench and I’d be honored if I could sit with them” The oldest of the five (they were all in
their 80s except one) laughed heartily, grabbed my arm and pulled me on to the
bench. Yikes! For the next 25 minutes we talked. One of them asked me if I was married. When I said yes she said in a deep Scottish
accent “make space for the single men lad, make space for the single lads” I can’t remember the last time I laughed that
hard. They were all widows, two of which
had lost their husbands in WW2. They had
lived in Perth their entire lives and every Saturday they come into town for
lunch and bit of shopping. One asked me
about my kids, another asked about my job as they grilled me for every
detail. I responded by wanting to know
as much of their story as possible in my short time with these spunky Scottish
widows who had not given up on life and were living it to the fullest.
A few moments later my wife arrived and snapped the
pic below. I introduced her to them and
they chatted with my family before the bus arrived. As they rose to leave each one gave me a huge
hug and a kiss on the cheek. I obliged
by giving them hugs and kisses as well.
As they were walking to the bus I heard the one in far right of the
photo say something to her friend. “That made my day” was the comment and she
was a bit choked up as she said it. Which
in turn caused me to choke up because I felt the same way. They made my day. Aside from the wedding, it was my favorite
moment from the entire trip.
As we were walking away I said to Holly “that made my
day”. She said “I think you made
theirs”
It’s a supernatural thing I guess. Maybe it’s the reason Paul tells us to greet
each other with a spiritual kiss. I
think we need it. You would be amazed at
how many of my bad days turned into good days with a good solid hug and dose of
encouragement from my wife, a good friend, a boss, or family member….
Or, on the rare occasion, 5 widows in Perth Scotland…
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