Pancakes & Strawberry Popsicles

Vol. 21 No. 28 | July 15, 2019

Our oldest granddaughter, Isabel, is on her way home after spending the past week with us. Although she has stayed with us before, it was always with her parents. This was the first time she would be spending an entire week with us by herself and her first time away from home for this long. It was also the first time we would be spending an entire week alone with one of our grandchildren.

I think we were all a bit nervous. What if she got homesick, or worse, physically sick? What if she asked for something we can’t allow? What if something happens to her while she’s with us? How will she do when she wakes up and her parents are gone?

But we were also excited and planned a week packed full of activities- pancakes and strawberry popsicles, sleeping on the sofa, sleeping in a fort, spending the night with cousin Norah, a trip to the donut shop, a trip to Aunt Laura’s shop, swimming, watching movies, eating watermelon, ordering pizza, burgers on the grill, a trip to the mall, more swimming, camping in the backyard (which was abandoned for an air-conditioned room without the flies), FaceTime with the family (that included lots of laughter and some moments trying to hold back tears), more swimming, and more pancakes.

We got through the week with only some minor hiccups- a couple of cousin squabbles; a few gentle reminders that “We don’t do that.” Constant requests for a snack, followed by and an equal amount of “I’m still hungry.”

But, thanks to her dad, who had packed a bag of “just in case” items, there were no complaints about being bored.

As the week comes to an end, the memories are already filling up my mind, along with hopes for the future…

I hope the silence in our home from the absence of little voices and laughter won’t be too deafening.

I hope the memories made this week will be the first of many. And I hope they will continue even when she grows up and prefers spending time with her friends over visiting Papa and Yei-Yei.

I hope that she will always know that we love her more than she will be able to understand until she has a grandchild of her own.

I hope I’ll never forget the look on her face when she stepped off the subway at her stop, inhaled deeply, and said, “Mmmmm. That smells good.”

And I hope our home will always be a place she wants to come back to, a place she knows she will find love, joy, peace, pancakes and strawberry popsicles.

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Tom Norvell’s Coaching & Counseling

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