I made reference once to a song by Air Supply that goes “In the eyes of a child there is joy, there is laughter. There is hope, there is love, a chance to shape the future. For the lessons in life there is no better teacher than to look in the eyes of a child”. That song rang true for me this past weekend. On Saturday night it was “boys night out”…not what you might typically think with cards, cigars and beer; rather this “boys night out” was a grandfather and his grandson spending the night at the trailer…just the two of us probably the last time this season.
When you have boys night out, the first rule is that you have to go to the grocery store for snacks…stuff that you don’t get at home like smarties and dibbs and eggo’s for breakfast. Then you go to Aug’s to pick up a couple of movies about trucks and trains and you’re good to go. We had fun. We ate all the smarties (except for one that was shaped like a heart that Lucas wanted to take home to Mama) and we ate most of the dibbs but saved some for breakfast!
In the morning we went for a walk on the beach and played at the park. I try to figure out why it seems different between my children and my grandchildren. I guess when our own children were small Gail and I were juggling shiftwork, mortgage payments and worrying about doing things right whereas now I am more relaxed and able to enjoy the moments with my grandchildren.
As the morning unfolded, the most common game for us (led by Lucas) was “pretend” which gave me an idea of the kinds of things that he is concerned about and wonders about. For the most part our pretending involved doing something nice for somebody which made me feel good since he is the next generation. I would be surprised if he doesn’t enter a vocation that centers around caring for people.
Once he found a couple of sticks; one long and one short. “Papa, pretend we are both old dads and these are our canes”. Yes, he’s connecting the dots!
