June 22 – “The sticker”

 

 

Two more days until we leave for camp.  Got a bit of a reprieve yesterday.  The wedding in Jacksonville that I was supposed to preside over was postponed.  That gave us an extra day to prepare.  We still have to get Taylor tomorrow, though.  Chris plans to meet her Folks on Bay City to pick her up. 

 

I did the memorial service at the church yesterday.  It went really well.  Great family.  We even went down to the beach while the four siblings waded into the water and scattered ashes.  Quite moving, actually.  One guy who continually identified himself as the "favorite uncle" had us all in stitches after the service.  He told one story about a guy who "was so crooked they'll have to screw him in the ground when he dies to get him to stay there."  Always great to have humor in the face of mourning.

 

Cailyn spent the night with us last night.  We had to get our granddaughter fix before we left for camp, I guess.  She got here while Chris and Mom were still at a doctor's appointment, so I had a few minutes of "just DadDad" time.  She was going through her backpack showing me all the clothes she intended to wear while she was here.  Very much the girl, this one.  At one point she came over with something different in her hands.  At first I thought it was a sticker of some kind, because she told me, "I stuck one of this on the wall at home.  Mommy wasn't happy."  That got my attention.  As she got up next to me she chuckled and slapped me on the back.  The old "kick me sign on the back" trick, I thought.  Then I remembered that she can't spell.  Or write.  So I figured I was safe in ignoring it.  She wasn't done playing with it, though.  She peeled it off my back and walked away.  She wasn't gone long, though.  She returned with a grin on her face and a pen in one hand.  Happily she handed me the now-folded-in-half sticker and said "Open it DadDad."     And that's when I realized what had been stuck to my back only minutes before.  It was one of those female sanitary pad things.  Apparently her Mom had stashed an extra.  I was completely captured by this time, though.  I peeled it apart and same the few little markings she had made with the pen.  Beaming, she looked up at me and said, "See, DadDad?  It says Happy Father's Day."  Of course.  I told her, "That's really great," and handed it back.  Quickly.  She wasn't done yet.  She opened up her drawer in my desk where we keep scratch paper and pens and pencils.  She pulled out a piece of paper and delightedly said, "DadDad.  Let's make a letter for Nani for put in the mailbox."  That sounded reasonable, so I pushed the computer out of the way to give her plenty of room.  She crawled into my lap, placed the paper on the desk in front of me, and pressed her "sticker" firmly onto the paper.  She took pen in hand and talked out loud as she made her markings, "Dear Nani.  I love you."  How sweet is that?  Then she asked me to write it for her "in letters."  Dutifully, I inscribed the message on the paper, and then asked if she wanted to sign her name to it.  She batted her beautiful brown eyes at me and said, "You do it, DadDad.  Please?"  Of course.  I asked her where she wanted her name to go.  And where did she choose?  Right on the … sticker.  Of course.  And then we had to put it in an envelope and put it in the mailbox "for the mailman to get it and give it to Nani."  I convinced her that we didn't have to wait for the mailman.  I assured her that we could remember to tell Nani to look in the mailbox when she got home.  In fact we wrote her a note to make sure.  And when Chris returned a few minutes later, Cailyn excitedly greeted her at the car with the big news.  "You have a mail, Nani.  It's in the mailbox."  Chris retrieved it and showed great excitement as she opened up the letter.  And indeed there inside was the letter … with the … "sticker."  Chris took it all in stride as only a Nani could, expressing her profound thanks for the letter.  She did cast me a quick glance and whisper, "Was this in her bag?"  Guess that will make its way into the Nani treasure box. 

 

Psalms 5:7-8 says, "But I, by your great mercy, will come into your house; in reverence will I bow down toward your holy temple.  Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies — make straight your way before me."

 

Father, thank you so much for the ability to be creative that you put in all of us right at the start.  Help me to always look for other ways to see and use even the most common of objects.  Amen.