A Poem Dedicated to my grandmother who turns 100 today!

Me with my leg propped up in a cast on a
chair with my greandmother, who today turned 100!

A blink of an eye – 100 years has gone by


In 1911 with the cold November wind Susan Thelma MacKenzie was born.
A hundred years have passed and life as she knew it changed.
Gone are the horse drawn wagons, buckets full of well water and candles lighting the way.

First it was electricity, trams, cars, the talkies and then black and white TV’s.
Two world wars later, the Halifax Explosion, the 1930’s depression
Thelma, like the tides of Clam Bay which had been her home, survived.

She married, had six children and called the North End of Halifax home.
Furs were fashionable, and making do was the norm.
Christmas was about family, not the presents.

Back to the country, another house built by hand.
Children aged and found their own way. Granny Mac was said to have yelled a lot.

It’s a parade of color now.
Techno-color movies with famous stars like Elizabeth Taylor and Grace Kelly fairy tales coming true. Color TV, vinyl records, and cars fill the now-paved roads where once forests grew.

Two bridges span Halifax Harbour.
Years and seasons pass and it’s tapes, VHSs, DVDs, computers, Internet and HD-TV.
Through it all Thelma smiles.

She’s surrounded by grandchildren who care about picking blueberries and flowers.
Hand in hand she walks with them, up the country road, around another bend, it’s always a “Once Upon A Time Stories,” when tucked tight and snuggled in her bed at night.

One hundred years and the world has changed.
But Thelma taught me much remains the same.
It’s not the things that define us rather
Family, love and caring—those are the traits of a life well lived.


Happy 100th Birthday, Gram
-Love Renee, November 6, 2011