The Man, The Legend, The Great Granddaddy

Last weekend we flew to Northern Ireland to celebrate my Grandma's ninetieth birthday.

We got off to a great start when, within minutes of arriving at the B&B, our wonderful host Margaret produced freshly home-baked biscuits for us all. Despite this, I still think the highlight of the weekend for all of us was Sunday's Family History session.

The old photo albums came out; we had the normal laughter at pictures of Dad as a kid, and we found the perfect precursor to my brother Rofl's classic Pearson Ears in pictures of my Granddad's Uncle Victor. We also discovered that in addition to the seven of my Grandma's siblings we knew of, there were another three who died in infancy: her mother Margaret had eleven children in just thirteen years!

Of course, there was also the retelling of what is probably the classic Pearson family story. The one about my Great Granddaddy Alfred Pearson. In the trenches. No? Oh, OK then...

My Great Granddad, Alfred Pearson, fought in the trenches in the Battle of the Somme and survived. Just.

At some point during the Battle, Alfred heard news that three boys he new from back home in Lurgan, the Hobbs brothers, may have been killed. He requested permission to leave his post temporarily to check the story out. Sadly he found the news was correct: the Hobbs brothers were amongst over three hundred thousand men lost in that battle.

When Alfred returned to his post, he discovered that an enemy shell had landed there whilst he was away, killing yet more of his comrades. Had it not been for his venture along the trenches, my Great Granddad Alfred would certainly have been killed with them.

And he would never have fathered my Granddad, so you will see why this is a particularly powerful story for all of us that followed in the Pearson family tree. Indeed, every time my Grandma tells this story she finishes by emphasising her belief this happened for a purpose, and that all of us who have existed as a result have an important purpose of our own. Where I am in my life today, I can't think of a much greater purpose than being a father to Zack and I can begin to explain how completely fulfilling I continue to find the whole experience.

I hope that in the future I might be lucky enough to have grandchildren of my own, and that they might hear this story retold. I like to think that when they do, it will hold a mythical, legendary quality for them. I hope it will make them stop and think about their purpose in life.

Which brings me on to my next point: the climax to the weekend. But now it's time for tea and bed so that will have to wait until tomorrow.