Read on Twitter
Immensely proud of my “other” COVID-19 project - reuniting with my Grandpa Toupin’s ‘53 Chevy.
Its been a crazy week as we incorporated this beauty into @9MileLegacy and started to dream about how we might have fun with it. /1
Its been a crazy week as we incorporated this beauty into @9MileLegacy and started to dream about how we might have fun with it. /1
While our farm is 10 miles north of Cabri, the Toupin homestead is 13 miles south of Cabri, near the long gone Village of Rosary and close to Hazlet where mom went to school.
Mom and Dad met in the middle at Cabri and the rest is, as they say, history. /2
Mom and Dad met in the middle at Cabri and the rest is, as they say, history. /2
Grandpa’s mom and dad were from the Montreal area - Amie and Imelda Toupin. They settled in the SW and had 3 kids. My grandpa Marcel grew up on the farm and loved skidooing, hunting and hockey. He lost his French language and culture for a variety of reasons. /3
He loved sports generally. It’s where I got my love for the @CanadiensMTL. We would rent pay per view for heavyweight title bouts (back when the division meant something). We watched Tyson bite off Holyfield’s ear together! /4
It’s especially where I got my love for the @sskroughriders. He would talk about Lancaster, Reed, Gluey Huey. When we would go to games he would dress up in costumes (before it was cool). We weathered the doldrums of the late 90s together. I still have his Riders share. /5
When I was about 15 years old, he gave me his ‘53 Chevy to restore. It was his courting truck, the truck his daughters learned to drive in and a farm sprayer. At that point it wasn’t very drivable or much to look at. But it was part of his history. A pretty special gift. /6
I sucked at the project! Like most 15 year olds I had no talent, drive or money. Or at least very little. The project languished and the truck sat on our farm, waiting for a champion. /7
Grandpa passed in 2007 after a lengthy battle w/ prostate cancer. It was like losing a best friend. I delivered his eulogy on my birthday that year.
I don’t know that I ever came to terms with it, but with the important people in your life I don’t think you ever should. /8
I don’t know that I ever came to terms with it, but with the important people in your life I don’t think you ever should. /8
The truck still sat. It was a point of embarrassment really. I had gone to law school and moved on with my career. My dad was hugely supportive and tried pushing me to complete it but I was on to other things at this point, trapped in career progression and hubris. /9
Fast forward to 2012. My Uncle Blake was a car nut wanted to restore it. He was(is) married to grandpa’s daughter Caralee and asked if he could buy it off me. I agreed and the chapter closed, or at least I thought it was. /10
Uncle Blake told me that at some point the truck would return to me. I was going through a divorce at the time and for those of you in “the club” you know it’s a dark time. I paid that comment no mind. I didn’t care. /11
A year or so ago Uncle Blake asked if we would be interested in acquiring the truck back for use in the brewery. We kept in touch on the topic and with our expansion we finally have a safe space to put it and the means to acquire it. It returned last weekend. /12
My grandpa would have really loved our business - he liked to have a drink and a laugh and I’m sure I wouldn’t have been able to get him out of our taproom. He would have proud to see his great grandson Pearse in his old truck /13
Any business owner will attest that the road is exceptionally hard. You have moments of self doubt, extremely difficult decisions & a path filled with hurdles - structural, emotional and psychological. It takes a toll and there are easier ways to make money, let me tell you! /14
Despite all of that challenge, I am immensely grateful for our business. It put me in a spot to do something very cool with a chunk of family history and keep this part of the legacy alive.
The joys you realize from charting your own course materialize in unsuspected ways. /15
The joys you realize from charting your own course materialize in unsuspected ways. /15
I’m also grateful for my Uncle Blake who didn’t have to do what he did, but here we are. Love also comes at you from unsuspected places sometimes. /16
This last picture is of my grandpa and grandma I think on Black Bridge in Swift Current. It lives behind the visor. I’m looking forward to taking my grandma for a soon and I’m proud my grandpa gets to participate in our brewery. /end
