Ian Haysom - Grandfathered

Ian Haysom is a lifelong journalist who has worked in newspapers, television, and online. He has been a reporter, feature writer, music writer, film critic, correspondent, city editor, and columnist. He was editor-in-chief of two of Canadas largest newspapers, the Vancouver Province and the Vancouver Sun. He started his career in England, worked in Fleet Street, but spent most of his journalistic career in, first, eastern Canada on the Hamilton Spectator, Ottawa Journal, and Ottawa Citizen, then British Columbia. He later moved to television news, as the news director for BCTV News, CHEK News in Victoria, and Global News in Vancouver. His writing has appeared in most major Canadian newspapers over the past four decades.

Praise for Grandfathered

Grandparenthood is the most important period in our lives. Hard-won life lessons are a priceless legacy to the next generation, and in passing them on, we are rewarded with nonjudgmental, unconditional love. Ian Haysoms delightful vignettes take us through the increasing number and ages of his brood of grandchildren and elicit chuckles, nods, and tears.

David Suzuki

I must admit I was quite worried about Ians retirement. What would he do without news anchor egos to soothe? But I think hes really found his calling as Grandad. There is pure joy in his words about Mayana, Emma, and Linden... and his whole family, come to think of it. Ians writing is full of love and humour and wonder at the miracle of grandparenthood. Grandfathered is such a pleasure to readeven for someone who has no children or grandchildren. This book is a gift his grandkids will treasure forever.

Sophie Lui, anchor, Global BC News Hour

Baby Boomers dont like the word old. They prefer classic instead. Classic Rock, classic movies, classic cars. This book is about a new way to look at the oldsorry, classicmembers of a family. Its true that todays grandparent is nothing like past grandparents. Just as someone once pointed out that 70 is the new 60, and 60 is the new 50, and 50 is the new 40, and so on, Ian Haysom has shown us that grandfather is the new cool uncle.

Squire Barnes, TV personality, Global BC

I couldnt put it down. A gifted writer that I read religiously in the Times Colonist, Ian Haysom has delivered a gem with Grandfathered. Im not a grandfather, but as Ian points out in the book, Grandchildren always laugh at your jokes. So for that reason alone, I hope I become one soon!

Ed Bain, host of The Q Morning Show at 100.3 The Q! and CHEK TV Victoria Weather Guy

Written with the sure hand and wandering eye of a veteran journalist, Grandfathered lives somewhere between heartfelt memoir and hilarious instruction manual. Ian Haysom has written one of the most thoroughly charming page-turners Ive ever had the pleasure to read. Youre going to enjoy this book, and youll be surprised how many times it makes you laugh out loud or moves you to tears ...often on the same page.

Ian Ferguson, author of The Survival Guide to British Columbia and winner of the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour for Village of the Small Houses

We are all suckers for a good love story, which is what Ian Haysom has written here. He has a deceptively light touch, wry and cheerful, while finding insight in little human moments that will leave even non-grandparents nodding their heads in recognition.

Jack Knox, Stephen Leacock Medalnominated author of Hard Knox: Musings from the Edge of Canada and Opportunity Knox: Twenty Years of Award-Losing Humour Writing

Ian Haysom has written a humorous, touching, and engaging meditation on what it means to be a grandfather. His skillful storytelling, powerful prose, and thoughtful insights had me laughing and thinking, often at the same time. While Im not quite yet a grand-father myself, I feel so much better prepared in the wake of this fine and funny book.

Terry Fallis, two-time winner of the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour

Copyright 2020 Ian Haysom

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, audio recording, or otherwisewithout the written permission of the publisher or a licence from Access Copyright, Toronto, Canada.

Heritage House Publishing Company Ltd.
heritagehouse.ca

Cataloguing information available from Library and Archives Canada

978-1-77203-333-5 (pbk)
978-1-77203-334-2 (ebook)

Edited by Warren Layberry
Cover and interior design by Jacqui Thomas
Excerpts from columns appearing on pages 1214 and 9496 are reproduced with permission from the Victoria Times Colonist.

Heritage House gratefully acknowledges that the land on which we live and work is within the traditional territories of the Lkwungen (Esquimalt and Songhees), Malahat, Pacheedaht, Scianew, TSou-ke, and WSNE (Pauquachin, Tsartlip, Tsawout, Tseycum) Peoples.

We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund (CBF) and the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Province of British Columbia through the British Columbia Arts Council and the Book Publishing Tax Credit.

I know what heaven is. Heaven is my granddaughter, who lives next door, playing in the street with her friends. When I see that, thats heaven. I dont think heaven can be better than that.

Clive James, writer and broadcaster, shortly before his death

There are fathers who do not love their children; there is no grandfather who does not adore his grandson.

Victor Hugo

We are not our grandfather.

We are Grandpa and Grandad and Bubba and Gramps. But we are not our grandfather.

We are twenty-first century grandfathers, baby boomers who never really grew up and still havent quite figured out how to be parents, let alone grandparents.

Our grandfathers had World Wars and Frank Sinatra and Charlie Chaplin. We had Vietnam and the Beatles and Jimi Hendrix and Robert Redford (who we are kind of happy to see is beginning to look his age, meaning hes human too).

Right. We are not our grandfather.

Not in our heads anyway. The stereotype of the grandfather is a white-haired, kindly old man who wears slippers and sits his grandchildren on his knee and has a wrinkly smile. Thats not what we see. We still see ourselves as vibrant, useful, relevant participants in the world. Then again, thats probably not what our grandchildren see. They see white-haired, kindly old men. They have better eyesight than us.

We are going to live longer than our grandfathers too. If we are lucky enough to live in parts of Asia, Western Europe, Oceania, or North America, we might live well into our eighties and beyond. Well likely get to know our grandchildren a lot longer and a whole lot better than our grandfathers knew us. If we live in other parts of the world, where the life expectancy for men hovers between the mid-fifties and mid-sixties, then we may not make it to the weathered shores of Grandfatherland. Still, across the globe, people today are living twice as long as they were in 1900.