WISE BEYOND HER YEARS
Learning a valuable life lesson from an irrepressible young girl
This proud grandma learned a valuable life lesson from her irrepressible granddaughter.
Last spring my fouryear-old granddaughter, Claira, taught me an important lesson. As we walked along the pathway to her favourite playground, we passed Spirit Square, where a group of seniors were sitting in a semicircle. Their heads were tilted downward, and each of them had a fleece blanket wrapped around their shoulders. They sat in silence. I walked past them as though they were invisible, but Claira stopped. She started pulling me towards them, but I put on the brakes. With big questioning eyes, she looked up at me.
“Don’t bother them,” I said and tugged her back onto the pathway.
Claira kicked a stone along the pathway and tried to ignore them but her sparkly spirit took over. She shouted out, “Hi, people!”
No one said a thing. But a couple of them did lift their heads to see what the commotion was.
Next to the pathway sat an old man hunched over in his wheelchair. Claira stood in front of him and asked, “Can you sing?”
He looked blankly at the ground. She began to sing to him, “The wheels on the bus go round and round.”
Slowly he lifted his head. His caregiver stopped putting cups on the picnic table. “He never looks at anyone,” she said. “His daughter will be thrilled to hear about this.”
Claira smiled at him and said, “You’re supposed to move your hands round and round in a big circle. Like this.”
He didn’t move. She sang the song again.
Slowly, he lifted one twisted hand and then the other twisted hand. My granddaughter squealed in delight and clapped her hands.
By now the entire group was watching as this little girl and this old man performed.
The old man looked at Claira and said, “Again.”
This time everybody sang and they all moved their hands in big circles.
My granddaughter was overjoyed with her new friends and started dancing like a bumble bee, flitting from one wheelchair to another. Her new friends clapped. She bowed and the old man said loudly, “Again!”
She twirled and skipped and did a spectacular cartwheel before landing in a heap on the ground. The semi-circle erupted in laughter and applause. The old man punched his fist in the air and said, “Again!”
Claira walked over to the old man and asked, “What’s your name?”
He drooled as he mumbled, “Charlie.”
She looked at him and said, “I like that name.”
Charlie’s eyes twinkled and his hands trembled as he smiled.
His caregiver came over and gave Claira a big chocolate chip cookie and said, “Sweetheart, you don’t know what this moment means to us. Seeing Charlie smile is like winning the lottery.”
My granddaughter grabbed my hand and we continued walking along the pathway. After a few steps, she stopped, turned and said, “Goodbye, people!”
They all looked at her, smiled and waved their hands. My heart pounded with pride as I realized that these “invisible” people really did want to be bothered.