Monday, February 19, 2007

Dear God,

I left the church at 3:00 p.m. and made my way to my daughter's home. My granddaughter didn't have school on Monday so I told her she could spend the night with me. I picked up that smiling girl and we drove home pretending like we were throwing a ball back and forth, asking each other questions. "What is your favorite thing about school?" I asked her. "What is your favorite thing about church?" She asked me right back.

After we got settled at home, Gabrielle found some pictures. We looked through three drawers of pictures, identified each person and laughed at silly images, especially of herself and me. All during the time we sat on the floor gazing at photos, 30's music was playing. My husband loves the sound from the 30's and 40's. He was lying on the couch, reading the newspaper, listening to the music.

After we put away the boxes of pictures, we went downstairs to play dress up. Gabrielle found just the right hat for me, a cream-colored straw hat with brim. I donned "Groucho Marx" black glasses and moustache. She put on a black floppy hat, a pair of sparkling gold glasses that read "2004" from when my husband and I spent New Year's eve at Times Square and put a straw purse on her arm. We found a hat for Grandpa. Then we returned upstairs. She placed the hat on her grandfather's head and then we all started dancing.

Gabrielle whirled and twirled. Harold did his usual erratic, steady shuffle. And I did pirouettes and leaps. Then we took hands and danced together, first this way, then the other. We held our hands up as one of us danced underneath the "bridge." We laughed and sang with the music. Ethel Merman sang something like an aria, "aah, aah, aah, aah..." And Gabrielle and I did the same. We nearly fell over in belly-gut laughter.

After dinner we had ice cream, then later popcorn. It's a tradition. We played two silly games and decided we would never play them again. Cabbage Patch Game and Cars. We decided that we didn't like the fact that old Jack Rabbit made Cabbage Patch babies work in a gold mine. "They're just babies!" Gabrielle exclaimed. And we thought it was pretty crazy tipping over tractors in the Cars game. No more!

We read a book together, the story of the prodigal son who leaves home with his inheritance, squanders it, then returns home ashamed and penniless. Gabrielle read a prayer out of another book, then we hugged and kissed good night. We each crawled into our sleeping bags, then fell fast asleep. This morning I could barely see her head all scrunched down into her red bag.

I sit at my computer, thinking how I have touched the generations, first my father, then my granddaughter. There is something to be said for making memories with each succeeding generation, passing on love, laughter, memories. I really am blessed.

Although nothing is perfect,
having my granddaughter at my home,
playing, pretending, dancing, laughing,
is about as near perfect as it can be.
The hours we spend together
are days that will never pass this way again.
They were lived, recorded.
Now they are behind us.
But one day
together,
we will recall the happy moments,
the insanity of crazy times,
the joys of being together,
making memories.
My prayer
is that I will give this little girl
and all her cousins
moments to remember
as they grow older
and as they watch the years
grow on my face.
I have circles of memories
in my heart,
written on my soul,
that feed me,
nourish me
on cold, lonely, dark days.
I am exceedingly blessed.

Love always, Andrea