terrypetersen

The trees that are slow to grow bear the best fruit. (Jean-Baptiste Poquelin Molière, actor and playwright, 1622-1673)

Eight-year-old Kate calls the day before Thanksgiving to talk to Grandma. She wants to know what her cousin Ella has done today, especially anything funny. I’m getting ready for the big feast, so I don’t have all three of my grandchildren at the house on my usual Wednesday. Sure, it would be difficult to prepare with three active kids in the house, but I miss the precious presence of the other two children.

I tell Kate about how I found Ella’s shoes on Barney, the Dinosaur. It’s the kind of story she wants to hear. Later I learn this game was initiated by Grandpa, but it doesn’t matter. It makes Kate laugh.

Ella reaches for the phone. She’s been out of the loop too long. I put the conversation on speaker, and then let our youngest granddaughter communicate, in her own way. She kisses the receiver. Blessings fill the air.

After Ella reluctantly gives up the phone, Kate tells me about someone she knows who is pregnant. The baby may have Down syndrome. The parents are waiting for test results; they are frightened. I am amazed at my granddaughter’s adult understanding. She knows what a joy her cousin is—and yet, she recognizes the difficulties of caring for a child with special needs.

Ella tries to climb onto the television stand. “No!” I call to her. She stops before I get to her, and I am grateful, but I am also glad she is extending her horizons.

It’s been a long haul since our little one was born seven weeks early, facing two surgeries before she was three months old: one for duodenal atresia and the other for an A/V canal defect. The second meant open heart surgery.

When her heart was cut open, our hearts were, too. The entire family learned what was important and what wasn’t. We continue to grow with her, to share enthusiasm when Ella points to the first letter of her name and pronounces “E” clearly. No, we probably won’t have a Harvard graduate. But a positive attitude teacher? Definitely.

“See you tomorrow, Kate. I love you.”

“I love you, too, Grandma.”

I’m not sure much of anything else matters.