52 Weeks – Week Two

Favourite Find

When I was in my early twenties, I had it in mind to get a Dutch passport and spend a year or two living and travelling in the Netherlands and the EU. I had hoped that the fact my father was born in the Netherlands would enable me to do so. While he came to Canada with his parents when he was a child, he was still a Dutch citizen when he married my mother.

Unfortunately – for me – six weeks before I was born my grandfather got my father to get his Canadian citizenship. He was adamantly opposed to the idea that his first-born grandson would be anything other than Canadian. He had gotten his Canadian citizenship as quickly as possible. I’m pretty sure he probably tried the second he landed at Pier 21.

Because my father had been naturalized as a Canadian at the time of my birth, the rules at the time for me to get a Dutch passport required me to produce the passport my father held when he came tot Canada. Of course, he did not hold his own passport when he emigrated, he came under his parents’ passport. I was told that my grandparents’ passport had been long discarded or lost. So much for my plans, thanks grandpa.

Imagine my surprise many, many years later, when this came into my possession. Needless to say, by then life had gone on and my plans had changed. Moreover, the rules for getting a Dutch passport had become more restrictive.

One thing that I discovered may have made my life more difficult had this been in my possession at the time I was hoping to obtain my own Dutch passport. My father and his younger siblings are all named in the passport, but it misnamed my father. It gives his first name as “Adrianus”, which is not his name. It’s his father’s. (I have birth records showing my father’s actual name, so I know it wasn’t really Adrianus.)

I will share one other thing that has come into my possession. My mother’s father worked for the Canadian Pacific Railway for many years, first as a brakeman and later as a conductor. His claim to fame was being part of the crew on the train that teenage Clark Kent raced in Superman: The Movie. My grandfather was always proud to talk about meeting Glenn Ford, one of his favourite actors, at the time.

Looking at this photo, it astounds me how much my grandfather looks the way I look now. When I was younger, I always thought I more resembled my father’s side of the family.

My mother gave me some of the items he used in his work as a conductor.

I thought this week’s challenge would be difficult, because at first nothing came to mind for favourite find. Turned out to be easier than I expected. Next week will be a challenge: “Favourite Photo”. I have dozens of photos that all could hold that title.