“It’s too heavy,” he whined. His little hands strained to lift a fat rough log. He wanted to imitate his grandpa who seemed to hoist them like twigs into a wheelbarrow. The red cheeks of a five-year-old, his desperate grunts, and unhappy face drew my husband over to help. Grandpa carried one end and together […]
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“Eat the green beans first,” I told my homeschooled grandson. He grinned. He understood immediately what I meant. It really had nothing to do with vegetables, but everything to do with the math. Like cold green beans next to delicious hot fried chicken, math remained on my grandson’s plate for as long as he could […]
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His little fingers dripped with orange greasy pizza oil and stuck together with chocolate fudge-vanilla. I checked his face and found it wreathed with those same streaks of orange and black. Quickly I stretched across the table, searching for a napkin to wipe his mess before it migrated to my jacket. But before I found […]
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I tilt my head a bit to look for myself in his stick figure drawing. I wonder is this truly how he sees me? He waits. “Is that me?” I ask. Pen in hand, like Picasso, he nods. Proudly. Seriously. I resist the “looks just like me,” response and go for the, “that’s so good!” […]
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My grandsons are going through the picky eating stage. I’ve watched all fourteen grandchildren hit it along the way, and it never fails to bring back memories of my own children’s fussy eating. Our middle daughter hated peas. I remember waiting one day until she downed the four designated peas on her plate. Her sisters […]
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“If Jesus wanted to,” my little seven-year-old fellow classmate declared, “He could flatten my thumb and make it big enough to go around the whole world.” He held his thumb inches from my wide eyes. I stared at it without saying a word. I could almost see it spread and widen. I imagined it circling […]
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On the farm, after dark meant black. The only light, other than the stars, shone from a tall pole smack in the middle of the yard. I ran from the gray shed to the house like lightening, splitting through the yellow sphere of yard light. Chased by the unknown, I tore past shadows beyond the […]
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“How old are you?” my grandson asks again. It’s a regular question which I try to regularly dodge. “How old do you think I am?” I ask back. His little forehead wrinkles as his eyebrows draw together in concentration. His blue eyes size me up top to bottom and then bottom to top. “Ninety?” he […]
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Our refrigerator died. Second fridge demise in six months. The next week my computer met its maker. It went like an apple with a bite out of it. Sometimes life is like that. “Grandma,” my grandson said in astonishment when he walked into my kitchen. “What’s that?” He pointed to the shiny new fridge that […]
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When the sun streams into my kitchen window, it cheers my soul. Everything literally seems brighter. Its brilliance however, illuminates more than just the room. Particles of dust flicker through its rays, grandchildren’s sticky handprints on the window pane bother me, and tiny bits of red dirt speckle the floor. When the light shines into […]
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