terrypetersen

The one thing we can never get enough of is love. And the one thing we never give enough of is love. (Henry Miller)

My less-than-two-weeks-shy-of-her-tenth-birthday granddaughter clears the dinner dishes while I fill the dishwasher. She tells me she is saving her money for something special, but has a long way to go to get what she wants.

“What’s that?” I ask.

“Molly, the American Girl doll. She’s retired and even more expensive now. Rebe really, really wants her.”

I pause, beginning to understand what Kate is telling me. Even though it is her birthday approaching, she is saving money to give her little sister a gift. “You are really beautiful. You know that?” Tears want to fill my eyes, but I can’t let them. Not now.

She smiles. We stand nearly at eye level now. I rinse a dish and wonder if my pride will flow down the drain with the water, unseen. I don’t want to waste something like awareness of Kate’s inner goodness. I stop to face Kate eye-to-eye, give and receive love. The dishes can wait a minute or two.

My granddaughter has an incredible awareness of the inner workings of other people. She sees beyond labels, handicaps, and external barriers to the real. She has mentioned a friend at school several times. Later—much later—I learned he has some form of autism. Kate never told me about that aspect of his life. It doesn’t matter. She accepts him as he is. Complete.

In the evening she asks me if she and Rebe can download some games on my iPad. I forgot my password, tried to change it and found myself in a strange loop of confusion, so peculiar it refused to accept my birthday as valid information, and since I’ve had more than sixty-five of them, I’m pretty sure I know when it is. I have told several adults the story. They suggested I go to the Apple Store. Great idea, but that visit hasn’t happened yet. Snow and too much else in life has intervened.

Kate says she will try to figure the problem out. She does! I’m amazed and tell her so. Kate, Rebe, and I stay up a little too late. But this is a sleepover night. And Grandma has a lot of life to learn from her young teachers.