Celebrating life’s lighter moments
It seemed like a moment of great enlightenment for the precocious five year old when she announced her great grandmother’s age contained two numbers and a letter.
That would be 9 and 3 with a D in between, Lauren reasoned.
When my daughter pronounced the age properly and explained the letter ‘D’ really wasn’t needed, she quickly realized her mistake.
Her great grandma is actually 9T3.
Amid a news cycle fraught with impeachment and associated scandals, economic upheaval and every manner of cyber hacking and bullying, I find lighter moments like this help bring life back into balance.
With five grandchildren aged two to six, my wife and I are fortunate to have plenty of those moments to draw on.
Like the epiphany four-yearold Thomas had a few weeks ago as he was eating a turkey dinner.
“Wait,” he asked his mother. “Is this the turkey you caught?”
No, she assured him, she did not catch the turkey. His grand uncle Steve raises turkeys and when they’re ready to be eaten, he sends them one, she said.
“So this was a turkey that said, ‘Bawk’”?
“Yes.”
“Can we not have turkey today?”
Meanwhile, his two-year-old sister, Daisy, also had farm animals on her mind as she filled in the blanks of a Christmas carol her mother was singing in the car.
“He sees you when you’re...” Daisy: “magic!”
“And he knows when you’re...” Daisy: “a pig!”
Cleanup isn’t much fun for most youngsters and six-yearold Madison is no exception. Still, when she was asked by her mother to pick up her toys and put her glasses into her kit bag for school the next day, she didn’t complain. Only one of the chores was completed, however, and her mother learned why when she discovered her own “to do” list, slightly altered to include two new items. The first, titled klin (clean), was tasked to
her mother while the second, glasses, Madison assigned to herself.
If cleaning isn’t really their thing, fun and games certainly is and this year, four-year-old Nathan found his passion. He’s turned into a hockey fanatic, daily pouring over his hockey cards and identifying all 31 NHL jerseys as well as a growing number of players, including hometown hero Noah Dobson.
Recently, he introduced twoyear-old Daisy to the sport. He loaned her one of his sticks. But when she proved to be more proficient at scoring than he anticipated, the stick was withdrawn, a not-so-subtle reminder there’s room for only one hockey phenom in his house.
And finally, one of my favourite holiday moments that came last week when Lauren asked me to guess what she liked most in our home.
The Christmas tree, I ventured. No, she replied. The alphabet she worked so hard on and then hung on the mantle? No, wrong again. I was ready to go around the house until I identified the object that caught her eye when, impatient, Lauren saved me the time.
“Easy, Grandpa … it’s you!” My heart!
On the eve of a new decade, I hope you find many “brighteners” of your own — moments that can help make a bad day bearable and a good day even better.
Happy holidays!