My neighbors Parker and Patty are always telling me how proud they are to be a part of Port O’Connor, Texas. They say it is a great community and so friendly. They had the grands here for Spring Break this week, but it was not very springy. They worked hard to find things to do. They went to the library, a movie, had ice cream in town one day, and even walked through the mall, but none of these were what the three grands told their parents when they picked them up on Friday.
The oldest said, “Mom, It was so cool! Nani taught me to sew on the pedal sewing machine. I made this pillow.” Then she proudly showed a small head pillow they stitched up on the old treadle Singer sewing machine owned by Patty’s grandmother. The grandson gushed on and on about watercolor painting with Pop and Nani, and gifted his parents with his favorites, a picture of a spring bird and a shark that was somewhat open to interpretation.
The baby of the bunch was jumping up and down and telling mom to get out the old toaster ‘as soon as they got home.’ When asked why, she held up a sticky jar of grape jelly canned ‘all by herself with just a little help from Nani.’ They all three got in the car and headed home proclaiming it was their greatest visit ever, and promising to be back as soon as school ends, and could we please do more things like this? Huh? Could we please Nani?
Patty and Parker settled into their chairs to rest up from the grands visit, and looked at each other in amazement. Who would guess that after traveling, cruising, theme parking, road tripping, and even paying for grandparent ‘experiences, the greatest visit ever would be six rainy days stuck inside together, no fishing and very little other. The free grapes from the freezer made into jelly, material scraps made into a pillow and pictures that only a grandmother could love or identify would add up to the zero dollars and priceless memories.
Just goes to show you the best memories are time shared together and sometimes that is all you need. Maybe next time they will beach comb or garden. That’s free too!
Just one of the great things about being a POC grandparent.
