My littles are so blessed to have their great-grandpa in their lives. He adores them and never seems notice their mischievous ways. After every visit, I get an email with a paragraph similar to this:
“Wow, Beckie! Your children were so well behaved. Why is it that they didn’t wear their halos? They are little angels.”
(I wonder…did he forget that Benjamyn reset the odometer on his exercise bike? Or that Lollie spilled hot chocolate on his carpet and Abbie stepped in it? Or that Ayden hit Phoebie with his jacket zipper? Or that Gabe and Ike turned up the volume on ‘Wheel of Fortune’ so loud that we couldn’t hear each other? Or that Eliyjah cried the entire time we were there? Or that Kai pressed every button on the elevator when we were leaving?)
On a recent visit, it was only Eliyjah and me. It was a quiet visit… I think, perhaps, that Grandpa was bored with my company. He got up from our conversation, and walked with a bit of unbalance, over to the couch where Eliyjah was quietly laying. Eliyjah’s sweet Great-Grandpa slowly got down on his knees, as to be very close to his great-grandson, and spoke quietly.
“What is your name?”, Great-Grandpa asked.
After a moment of silence, he said, “Oh… You don’t know?”
Eliyjah just stared at his Great-Grandpa, wiggling his little arms and legs.
Great-Grandpa smiled softly.
“You know… I think you have more hair than me.” Great-Grandpa whispered to his boy. “Unless you count my mustache.”
After a soft kiss to Eliyjah’s forehead, he slowly rose to his feet. He walked back to his chair, unsteadily, and sat down. I held my Grandpa’s soft, crooked hand in mine, stroking his skin with my thumb, thanking God that I was able to be there…with Grandpa…in that moment.
“Grandchildren are the crown of the aged, and the glory of children is their fathers.”
Proverbs 17:6 (NKJV)
My Quiver Full 