Sunday, August 22, 2004

The Octogenarian's Bliss

There is a great deal to be learned about Life and the Nature of Reality from observing one's great-grandchildren.

My O Best Beloved First granddaughter, Kate and her husband, my treasured Adam, brought the three, Sabrina, Dom and Kyra to visit last week.

Sabrina, the oldest, is a dark eyed beauty who loves animals, and has the perfect gentle nature of a saint-in-progress. She stirs my heart and informs my soul of the immutability of goodness. I am glad I am her "greatpop" because she could never elicit a corrective word from me. She not so much speaks to me as she confides! This is very special.

Dominick is sometimes solemn, sometimes giggly. He is unaware of his handsome beauty, but he recognizes his essence and value, especially when he is crawling all over and wrestling with Adam, his father.

Kyra is exceedingly instructive in a ferocity of fearlessness that propels her through the landscape like a landlocked waterbug. Her most pensive moments are spent in seductive smooches with Adam, and occasionally me, and always, Kate, her Mom.

Kyra was also transfixed as a nymph statue when she had an Ultralite spinning rod bent double, landing her first rainbow trout, reeling and pumping expertly in the manner of young Ernest Hemingway on the Big Two-Hearted River.

I had forgotten what wonderful tutors children can be when they are not yelled at, when they do not need to be yelled at, when they feel free to crawl over and hug their parents–even in the blinking neon and cacophony of a dark, mazy arcade.

It is true that there is more "common occupancy" by great-grandchildren and their precedents these days. But I just hope my contemporaries realize that we do not necessarily do ALL of the TEACHING in the generational mix.

This paltry offering of words is grateful acknowledgment of my lessons, and my love for Katie and Adam as well.