by Faith Draper

Created on: October 05, 2008   Last Updated: July 22, 2010

Most of my pleasurable moments of life evolved around my grandparents. This is common for many people but the best memories of my childhood included a set of grandparents who were not related by blood but rather by marriage. My parents divorced when I was young so over the years I acquired several extra sets of grandparents.

There was one set of grandparents who lasted the longest and in many ways were more grandparents to me than the blood relatives; I refer to them as ‘my special grandparents’.

My special grandparents were the parents of step-mother number three. Grandma and Grandpa lived in Michigan and I quickly learned loved hunting, fishing, and everything natural. The first time I met them was when our family made a trip from California where we were living to Michigan. Grandma and Grandpa had 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. Most adults could throw a baseball across it but at the age of 8 it seemed huge to me. I never been in a boat before and was a bit frightened. It was raining that first day which added more 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 cabin in the woods and the trash can was overturned by them several times. 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, 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 I 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 special grandparents.

Learn more about this author, Faith Draper.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.