The other day, on Facebook was a post, from the great beyond, as usual…it said, “Grandchildren just make you feel better. They are sunshine for your soul and medicine for your mind.”
Think about this for a minute. I know you’re thinking of all the great things you have done with your grandkids. Even when they just handed you a green slimy frog, that’s so cute!!! Or a worm all sandy and stretchy, now in the palm of your hand, that’s so cute, when they burp the alphabet, that’s so cute, or when they fart all the way down the stairs, then turn around and look at you with a big smile on their face, and say, “Bet you can’t do that Grandma,” that’s so cute. Let me tell you something. I have raised three daughters, and yes we had our slimy bug moments, the beautiful butterfly moments, the dead bird burial moments, the “what in the name of heaven is that smell,” moments.
Now I’m older, my girls are adults with kids of their own………BOYS ….. I can remember when I took my first grandson up north (on weekends to remember) and one time on the way up north he needed to go “potty,” I had pulled onto an off ramp, and as I put the car in park, he opened the door, stood up, and just peed, right there on the side of the ramp. “Okay, Grams, all done,” he said, before I could even get my seatbelt unbuckled. All I could say was, “Don’t ever do that to Grandma again, we could get a ticket for that.” “No, we wouldn’t Grandma, they could never ever catch you.” To me, that was a little sunshine. That same grandson grew for a few years and showed quite a sense of humor when he jumped off the dock one day, looked like he was in water over his head, and yelled, “Grandma, Grandma, help me I can’t swim.” Without thinking, I jumped in; practically broke my leg, when I found the water only up to my waist, and sure enough he was laughing his head off. “Grandma you should have seen your face.” This was medicine for my mind…it was saying, LOOK before you leap! Now that grandson is engaged, soon to be married to a really understanding woman, and still calls me his Granny, never ends a phone conversation without telling me he loves me, calls and asks if there is anything he can do for me. Loves God and his country, is a hard worker, very smart, and a willing helper for every family member. I just want to add he was raised by a single mom and her siblings, but did have men in his life who he looked up to for different reasons. He is a person I can talk to about anything… politics, religion, daily happenings, life, anything. So I guess you could say he is and always has been sunshine for my soul, and medicine for my mind, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
So just on the off chance you are a person who thinks just because you are not a blood relation to someone and what you say or do doesn’t matter or make a difference, I want you to REthink that, because it was just those kind of people who made an impression on my grandson. It was the off the cuff remarks about what they thought of a politician, a store, a law, a job, a school, a family gathering, a person, anything you say becomes food for thought if presented in a kind way. It stays in their head, they do not forget. All the things they hear, they will put into perspective and someday it will make a difference in the way they think. It’s SUNSHINE & MEDICINE.
Contact Diane at tct@pageone-inc.com.
