The First Time I Met My Extra Grandparents

Having parents that divorced at a young age I have managed over the years to acquire several extra sets of grandparents. That is something most kids would even. Grandparents are great and who wouldn't love to have more then just the 2 sets you're born with. Of all the extras there is one set of grandparents who lasted the longest and in most ways were more grandparents to me than my birth ones.

My special grandparents were the parents of step-mother number three, my Mom as I called her (my natural mother, or birth mother is always referred to as 'my mother'). Grandma and Grandpa lived in Michigan and the first time I met them was on a trip my Mom, father, and sister made from California. Grandma and Grandpa along with a couple of Mom's brothers and their friends all rented a cabin in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

If you're not familiar with Michigan the UP as it's called is a piece of land between Lake Michigan and Lake Superior - two of the Great Lakes. It's mostly wild country and I had never been there before this trip. We met Grandma and Grandpa in the small town of Newberry which is located on the Tahquamenon River. We all loaded up in a small motor boat and went up the river to the log cabin that set just off the river.

The Tahquamenon River isn't really big. I mean most adult could through a baseball across it easily but at the age of 8 it seemed huge to me. I didn't remember ever being in a boat and it was raining that first day which added to my hesitation of getting in this boat with people I had just met.

I didn't have any need for concern though. Grandma and Grandpa took to me right off the bat and I later learned they were thrilled to finally meet me and to have such a 'lovely granddaughter' as they put it. Grandma and Grandpa were notorious for taking in strays and that was basically what I was, a stray, but you would never have known it from them.

A week on the Tahquamenon River with Grandma and Grandpa meant learning to fish, another first for me, scaling fish, and learning about nature. We had raccoons and bears visit the yard of the cabin and I caught lots of crawfish off the dock of the cabin. Grandma and Grandpa watched me like hawks wanting to make sure I was always safe and always having fun.

During the week we stayed in the cabin on the river we also paid a visit to something that eventually became one of my favorite places in the world even though I've only visited there twice in my life. The Tahquamenon Falls. The falls are actually 2 sets of falls, the upper falls which are the largest and the lower falls which is made up of several smaller water falls. That first visit there we were able to walk across the river at the lower falls and even walked under the upper falls. You can't do that now.

It was that day at the Tahquamenon Falls that I really learned where I stood with my new Grandparents. Grandma and Grandpa yelled a lot. But it wasn't an angry yell - it was them yelling at others such as my parents and new uncles to hold my hand and make sure I didn't slip or fall. That set the stage for many years to come of Grandma and Grandpa protecting me. But it was also the beginning of many years of learning from them, being spoiled rotten by them, and knowing I was very lucky to have these people as my extra special grandparents.