Say What?

I am constantly amazed by the difference between children~even children from the same family that are only one year apart in age. Lasterday (as Lulu always said for yesterday) we were driving home with Lulu & Ria. We had been to a ball game and it was pouring-not raining gently-pouring!

As we were approaching a stop sign we came alongside a young man that was pedaling a bike by using his hands. I could see that his legs were somewhat atrophied and, because of a back support he was wearing, I assumed he was paralyzed from the waist down. The girls asked why he was pedaling a bike with his hands. I gave them a simple explanation based on what I could see. Ria kind of sighed with that "Oh-poor man caught in the rain" expression. Literal Lulu, on the other hand apparently missed the sympathy gene implanted in her sister. She looked over at the man and asked, "So, he's paralyzed from the waist down?" "I think so," I replied. "Well, then...how did he get on the bike in the first place?" I was fully expecting a -Oh! That's too bad-what do you think happened to him? Nope! Nothing like that-The facts, ma'am...just the facts!

I told MyHero, when we were out of earshot, that she has the funniest "take" on things of anyone I have ever known. A little later, as she was getting ready for bed, she told me that she needed to wear old clothes to school the next day. I asked why (they have a pretty strict dress code). "Well," she said, ever-so-seriously, "It's the next-to-last day of school and my teacher says we're going to be using elbow grease and I don't want to get it on my clothes!" I whipped my head around to see if she was kidding me. Guess what? She wasn't! Okay...I'm gonna explore this now and see how far it goes. "Well, how are you gonna use the elbow grease?" "Nana, (sighing like I am an idiot) I don't know, I guess it just goes down your arm from your elbow!" I couldn't bear to break her bubble of trust in her teacher. I walked into the other room and laughed until I felt I could control myself in a Nana-ly manner before kissing her sweet little face off to bed.

Every day I spend with my grandchildren I learn something new. Every day I get a child's eye view of the world. It is a place of Fact and Fantasy. Fiction and Foolishness. Fun and Fairies. Every day brings me closer to the child that I used to be. Every day, in every way, I am blessed!