Filling in the gaps

I believe grandparents were created to fill in the gaps formed by parents too busy living their own lives to have time for the little things in their children's lives. I feel it is my job to notice, teach and encourage whenever I can.

Last Friday I had the pleasure of the company of my young grandson, Colin. After breakfast we spent some time at the family center for a little exercise. Always exploring, he found a tiny rubber ball on the floor that he used as a basketball. His efforts made me laugh. Next stop was the bakery where he decided on a chocolate doughnut and I chose a little apple pastry that I had been wanting to try. Then we investigated the contents of a new antique store in town. We were both intrigued by the unusual assortment of wares offered in the tiny store. Later came a cooking lesson. After slicing hotdogs almost in half I instructed my student on placing cheese in the middle and then rolling crescent dough around each one. Colin was proud that he had fixed lunch as he saw the tasty creations come out of the oven. The highlight of our day, for Colin I am sure, was taking his scooter to the Riverwwalk and the freedom he was given to ride it in the warm spring sun. My payment was when he announced, "I had fun today Grandma!"

The following is a special story I wrote for my grandson as a Christmas gift. As I said it is part of my job to encourage him and fill in the gaps.

Little Boy Big Dreams

There was once a little boy named Colin who had dreams bigger than he was. He was sure that someday he would do something to make everyone proud of him. What would it be he wondered?

He has all kinds of interests maybe one of them will make him famous when he grows to be a man. He loves to read maybe when he learns enough words he will write his own book and become a famous author. He could write about all the animals he loves. They include dogs and cats, and birds and fish and even tiny insects or he could write about his experiences as a little boy growing up in a small town in New Mexico.

One of his favorite subjects in school is art. He loves drawing little creatures to illustrate his thoughts. Maybe he will be a famous artist and have his creations in galleries around the world. Maybe he will draw cool cartoons and they will appear in important newspapers; or he might create a character like Mickey Mouse and build a theme park around him and lots of people would come to see what he had done. That would be cool he thought as he dreamed on.

Colin also loves sports, especially playing soccer and basketball. Maybe if he played really well he could get a scholarship to a college and go on to join a professional league and help his team win a championship. His name would be in the newspaper and on television along with his winning team.

Sometimes he dreams of being a fireman and saving people from harm. At other times he dreams of being a policeman with a gun and an astronaut with a space laser shooting bad guys. He has even dreamed of being the President of the United States and he would make new laws. The first law would be that all the needy children would get toys to play with.

After awhile Colin became tired of dreaming and finally decided he could be anything he wanted to be when he grew to be a man, but right now he was very happy just being a little boy with big dreams because he knows everyone in his life loves him and he loves them too.