Memorable Moments Made One on One

I love the times that I have one on one with my granddaughters. The minutes and hours are completely different than when the whole family or even just one other person is around. The dialog is different, the activity level is different, and there is a beautiful intimacy about it. It’s something I’m trying to be more deliberate about, special times alone with each of them. Most recently I had a special day with just Katie. A couple of months ago I had a special day with Taylor. They are my oldest two granddaughters and once school starts our time together is more limited. I’m thankful my two younger granddaughters are still available for more frequent visits.

When it was Taylor’s day to be “an only child” she chose to go to the Museum of Natural History downtown. Bob and Jean went too. It was a wonderful day for all of us. Even though I shared her that day, she was the “queen bee” and it was amazing to watch her drink in the attention. At the end of the day, her aunt, Jean said to me,

“Taylor talks so much more than she used to. She seems so grown up.”

I laughed,

“She doesn’t talk more; it’s just that when she’s the only child she can get more words in edgewise!”

It was a memorable day and I can still see Taylor viewing the exhibits slowly, no rush, because it was “her” day, no little sisters pushing her to move to the next activity.

I can still see her skipping down the grassy mall in front of the U.S. Capital, hair flying, holding her gift shop purchase, tossing a smile back to us, joyful. I can still see her as we ate outside at one of the museum café’s, it was the perfect end to our time downtown. We made a great memory.

Katie didn’t really have an agenda for her special day. I got to choose the activities. First stop was the toy store. Again, there was no rushing, somehow, when there is only one child they seem less hurried. I think Katie explored every corner of that shop, carefully weighing and thinking through what special item she was going to take away as a memento of our day. We left with a stuffed horse and a penguin that was almost half as big as Katie. She carefully buckled her new black and white friend into the car seat next to her; she wouldn’t have been able to do that if another little one had been along.

Off to lunch next, she chose the restaurant and wanted to sit next to each other, not across from each other. I loved all the lunch time snuggles and the great conversation. We talked about school, we talked about how brown hens lay brown eggs, white hens lay white eggs and yet how when you crack them open they look just the same inside, and how people were like that two, the same inside. That’s a conversation that would be hard to have with all the kids talking and moving and jostling for attention. It was a special moment, it was a deep moment, it was a memorable moment, she is a very thoughtful little girl and it made our lunch that day especially memorable.

Then we were off to a wonderful play, a great opportunity for sharing one of my loves, live theater, and one of Katie’s loves too. We both enjoyed laughing and clapping our way through the show. Tired but happy the chatter continued on the ride home, about half way there Katie said,

“Grammie, the time goes so fast when we are talking; it makes the ride so much shorter.”

I smiled back at her in the rearview mirror; the day had gone so quickly.

And so I’m looking forward to my next get togethers with my big girls. Lest you think the little ones are neglected I’ve had several lovely lunches with Nora and days enjoying time with our sweet little Aubree in the interim. Their time for scheduling special get togethers will be here way too fast. I’m thankful I live close enough for these special outings. I can’t recommend these special one on one times enough. Now it’s time to get my calendar out and get some dates on it, time to make some memories.

Our view of the stage from our seats above and Katie pausing to check out the creek on the bridge as we were returning to the car after the show.