Today begins a week with our seven-year-old grandson. This is is third summer visit. He is quite something. Kind of an old soul in a kid’s body. He says and does the funniest things.

Last year he asked us if he could watch a certain movie, can’t even remember which one now. I asked him, ” What do you think your mom would say?”

He replied, “Well, you’re the adults in charge so it’s your decision.”  Remember, he was six at the time.

I need to let you know it backfired on him later when I told him no about something and he told me, “My mom lets me do it”. And, of course, I reminded him that I was the adult in charge. Hah!

It will be a fun-filled week of gorging on popcorn and cheese puffs. We’ll have an ice cream cone every day.  We’ll fish. We’ll hike. We’ll go to the beach. We’ll watch movies. We’ll do crafts. I have a bunch of stuff ready.

We will head up to the cabin on Wednesday where there will be mostly fishing and his favorite activity which I unwisely came up with last year and now it’s
“thing” with him.

We have a rope hammock set up between two trees. We pretend it’s a ship and we’re on the high seas. There are holes in the hammock where we put our “oars”, which are two long walking sticks that we have painted. We are chased by pirates, almost eaten by Pirhana, shipwrecked, you name it. Anything that can befall our vessel does. We have to paddle really fast to stay ahead of all the dangers.

I worried that I wouldn’t be up to this year because of my mom’s recent death. But I have decided I am going to give it my best shot. I’m telling myself it will be good for me.

 

 

I was thinking today about life, how as one life ends somewhere another is beginning somewhere. Even though we grieve our loss, we must always remember that it’s our loss.  And our loss doesn’t mean someone else can’t be happy. I can remember when my husband had open heart surgery and it bothered me a lot that people in the waiting room were laughing and talking while I was scared to death and going through hell wondering if our life together was over.

I look back and realize I was wrong. Sadness and happiness are always happening simultaneously. That’s the nature of life. I think when we can step back and look at the big picture it helps us cope. It doesn’t take away the pain, of course, and I don’t think it should because:

Without pain there is no happiness. You can’t recover from something;  you can’t get over someone until you pass through the valley.

I wish it weren’t so but it is.

So this week I’m going to be a kid again myself. I’m going to give my grandson the best of me. His life is just beginning. I want it to be filled with as many good memories of his time with his Grandpa as we can give him.

But do think of me. When the week is over, I’m going to be exhausted!!!!!

God bless and I hope you have a calm week.