Wednesday, May 14, 2008

It's All In Your Perspective

Last night when my husband was reading his devotional it was "Teach.....Your Children And.....Their Children After Them." Deuteronomy 4:9 NIV. It was sub-titled "A Grandparent's Influence." My husband came out of the bedroom chuckling. He told me to read the text. It was written by a child.

"A grandmother is a lady who has no children of her own. She likes other people's little girls and boys. A grandfather is a man grandmother. He goes for walks with boys; they talk about fishing and stuff like that. Grandmothers don't have anything to do except to be there. They are so old that they shouldn't play hard or run. It is enough if they drive us to the store where the pretend horse is, and have lots of money ready. Or if they take us for walks, they slow down for things like pretty leaves and caterpillars. They should never say 'hurry up.' Usually grandmothers are fat, but not too fat to tie your shoes. They wear glasses and funny underwear. They can take their teeth and gums off. Grandmothers don't have to be smart, only answer questions like, "Why isn't God married?" and "How come dogs chase cats?" Grandmothers don't talk baby-talk like visitors do, because it's hard to understand. When they read to us they don't skip, or mind if it's the same story over again. Everybody should have a grandmother, especially if they don't have a television, because they are the only grown-ups who have time."

Well, reading that got me to thinking. I remember my grandma's. They were old when I was little and they were "fat." They didn't move very fast and they did the silliest things. You know, OLD people things. I think that only one of them could take her teeth out, but both of them wore glasses.

I have never thought of myself as THAT kind of grandma. I see myself as young, in decent shape, not particularly fat (fluffy maybe), my teeth are my own and as for the underwear thing....they are NOT funny.



Then I thought about how my grandson probably sees me. I have taken him to the store and let him ride the horse. When we go for walks we look at the leaves and the caterpillars. I try not to say 'hurry up' because I am enjoying that particular moment with him. I wear contacts or glasses depending on my mood and the time of day. I can't wait for him to be able to communicate enough to ask me why God isn't married. I love to read to him and have been known to read the same page over and over again...if that is what he wants.

It hit me....My grandson probably thinks I'm old! I have wrinkles. The gray has been known to pop out in my hair between visits to the hairdresser. Oh my goodness. I AM old. In his eyes, I am an OLD grandmother! Hopefully, he sees me as the 'grown up who has time.' If he does, then I wouldn't trade his perspective for the world.

2 comments:

Lori said...

FLUFFY! You are not fluffy!

Z-Mama said...

You know what's weird? I don't think of you or my mom or brandon's mom as being the stereotypical gray-haired old grama. But when I look back at pictures to when I was a baby...my grama was that stereotype! Was she actually older or did she not care to take care of herself or was it a generational thing or what?! Who knows...

But I do know that I'm not old enough to be considered an adult yet...at least in my own eyes.