November 5 - “An acorn-ic moment”

We had Cailyn over for a few hours after school yesterday.  Looks like we’ll have her today and tomorrow as well.  April is working as usual at the hospital.  Nathan is teaching a high angle ropes course or something for the fire department out at Gulf Copper, so he’s not on his regular shift. 

So Cailyn was in rare form with her outlook on the world.  On the way home Chris pretended to get lost and we ended up driving past the house they are putting a contract on.  It’s not but about five minutes away from here.  Not in the same neighborhood, but apparently quite a lot of house for the money.  Cailyn recognized the neighborhood right away, and even led us right to the house.  She seems very excited about the move. 

In the midst of all this talk of moving, their landlord sent over a real estate agent to take photos of the house they are in now.  He is putting it on the market as well.  Cailyn remembered that visit, and Chris found her roaming around our house taking pictures with our camera.  “I’m taking Realtor pictures,” was her explanation.  Loved the items of interest she included, though.  The inside of our pantry.  The power strip under my desk.  The printer.  My trash can.  Individual shots of our furniture.  And my personal favorite, she took pictures of the photos we have on display of her and her Mom and Dad.  That’ll bring ‘em in for sure.

At one point she and I were thumbing through one of those Christmas catalogues that they send in the mail.  Can you believe they are already showing up?  It’s not even Thanksgiving.  Anyway, she saw a picture of one of the three wise men approaching the manger in all his Eastern regal glory.  Her comment?  “Look, DadDad, there’s Elsa.  Oh, wait.  That’s not Elsa.  That one has a beard.” 

Later she walked into the office struggling to hold up a ten pound bag of birdseed.  I watched her as she rearranged it in her arms until it was in just the right position for her next statement: “Hey, DadDad, let’s play birdseed bag catch.”  And she tossed it.  Thankfully it didn’t break when it crashed to the floor.  Gotta hand it to her, though.  That would have been a really creative game of catch.  I didn’t think Nana would have gone for it, though.

My absolute favorite part of the day came when we first got home and she was showing me her homework sheet and she was plodding through the usual, telling me about her day at school. All of a sudden her eyes lit up.  Something big was obviously coming, so I turned in my chair.  Didn’t want to miss this revelation.  “DadDad,” she breathlessly announced, “Mrs. Mack sang that nut song that you know, DadDad.  That one you always sing.”  Well, she had me at “nut.”  “You mean ‘I’m a Nut’?” I queried back.  “Yes, that’s the one.  Let’s sing it now, DadDad.”  Ah, music to my ears.  I can’t remember when I have had a prouder moment.  The younger generation excited about one of the classics of all time.  I knew I liked that teacher of hers.  Best teacher ever.  Sigh.  Sniff.  What an acornic moment.  “I’m an acorn, small and round …”

Psalms 77:11-12 says, “I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.  I will meditate on all your works and consider all your mighty deeds.”

Father, these small moments with grandchildren add up to many hours of memories. 

Thank you for building that capacity to remember within us.  Amen.