Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Great Grandad

My maternal grandfather is 96. You'd never guess if you saw him. But it's true. He's in pretty good health (considering)and still lives on his own.
We don't see him that often. He doesn't live too far. It's just that his place is set up for an elderly gentleman, and I have a very active toddler. And I had a very active baby. Whenever I've brought Matt to visit his Great Grandad he's torn the place apart in a matter of minutes. He would throw the knick knacks, eat the cords, shuffle the papers.
It made it hard to have a visit of more than 5 minutes. So, it's been awhile.
But then yesterday happened. My active toddler was a loving little boy. I'm not sure if he'd been mellowed by all the morning's excitement or if he is just calming down a bit, but yesterday's visit with his great grandad was fantastic. They chatted. They played. Grandad showed Matt a camera and Matt was thrilled. Grandad also showed Matt his collection of elastics. And we were there for an hour.
(Note: If you want to entertain a toddler, elastics are an incredibly effective method)
Really, we could have stayed longer, but we had to get to Mike's parents' place.
To me, this was a pretty huge deal. My grandad is a cool guy with a ton of life history (you accomplish a lot in 96 years) and I really want Matt to know him. And, finally I see that maybe they will find something in common.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a great story. Jessica got to meet only one of my grandparents (my maternal grandmother, and she has since passed away) but it was so powerful to see them share time together.

Thanks for sharing this.

Blog said...

That is so sweet, Laural! I had a greatgrandmother who lived till 99. I loved her.... Matt and you are very lucky. :)

Unknown said...

Very sweet story. He doesn't look 96, that's for sure. Matt will hopefully grow up to have very fond memories of him.
Seriously, elastics? Jess got her hands on some and I was SO worried that she would snap her finger. Desperate times for desperate measures though, I totally undertand.