In gratitude to his 85-year-old grandmother, her grandson has been taking her on trips for 4 years to show the beauty of the world

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

When Brad Ryan came home after another year at veterinary university, he hoped to just be with his family and escape from the constant intense study. However, in a conversation with his grandmother, telling her about his travels and adventures, he was surprised to learn that she herself had never seen any ocean, no forest, no mountains, no prairies - all that America is so famous for.

Joy's grandmother made this confession four years ago - and then Brad spontaneously invited her to go to the mountains together. And the grandmother agreed! All her life she lived in a small village in a private home in Ohio. Raising children, taking care of the household, she never had a chance to explore her homeland in her entire life. At that time she was already 85 years old, she walked with a cane, but she liked the idea of going with her grandson across the country.

The first thing they did was go. “When we walked in the mountains, the people we met were all very impressed by my grandmother. Indeed, you rarely see elderly people with their grandchildren on such routes. And I do not like the very idea that you can live forgotten by everyone, alone and even remember nothing - no adventures, nothing. It's somehow unethical even. My grandmother has nothing to tell about her life, and I decided to give her topics for such stories."

Over the course of four years, Brad took his grandmother to 29 national parks in America, which opened up completely different landscapes for her - from mighty forests with immense trees to sand dunes, an endless and noisy ocean near high cliffs to impressive canyons. And everywhere my grandmother was happy to experience something new, to try something that she had never encountered before. Despite her quite respectable age, she steadfastly, albeit slowly, but nevertheless climbed the tops of the mountains, and in the desert she even slid down the dune on purpose - simply because she was interested in trying something like that.

“Seeing the world through the eyes of her grandmother, who wakes up every morning and thanks God that she’s still alive, taught me a lot, you know,” admits Brad. “With her, I have to slow down and look at the world differently.”

Now Brad has already completed his studies and works in one of the national zoos, but he still continues to take his grandmother to the sights of America in his free time. He also took her to the university where he studied, showed her where they now teach veterinarians and how it happens. Brad took Grandma Joy to geysers, dams, waterfalls and botanical gardens.

“Anyone who thinks it's 'not cool' to talk to grandparents doesn't understand a lot,” says Brad. - It seems to me that this is exactly what our society lacks. You can learn so much from them, so much you can take for yourself from communicating with them. I love my grandmother very much."

We also told the story of a 76-year-old grandmotherwho travels 24 kilometers every day to take her grandson to school.