A Sunflower Moment Out on the Water

 

                                                      
“I want to sit next to you, Grandma!” Nina shouts happily.

Of course, I’m delighted at this request! But just as she utters these words, Allie pipes up with,

“But, I want to sit by Grandma, too!”

Nina whines, “NO! I want to sit next to Grandma!”

I calmly say to each of them, “That’s, fine, you can both sit next to me.  Allie, you sit on this side! See? There’s plenty of room for both of you! I’ll be a “Grandma Sandwich!”

Reluctantly she comes around to the other side.  Purposely she tries to get and do everything that her cousin does. There’s a little bit of cousin “envy” going on whenever we are together!

I have been so blessed with four beautiful and healthy grandchildren, Jack(7), Allie(4), Nina(2) and Kellan(1). Today we have them all.  All four of them are strapped into their life jackets and safely on board the pontoon boat. We’ve untied the boat from the dock and everyone is seated for the launch.  The launch is successful, and we’re on our way! It’s a beautiful, hot, sunny summer weekend.  All of us are anxious to enjoy our time together on beautiful Morse Lake.

Of course, at the moment, my lap is full with the baby, Kellan.
He, being the “baby” I’ve been around the most since we’ve moved to Indiana, is very comfortable with me and contentedly sits on my lap. He loves to be with his Grandma.

Just as we pull away from the dock and are well on our way onto the water, Jack, the oldest, recalls that he forgot his goggles at home. They are not at the dock, which would be an easy fix, but all the way back at their house, several miles away.

“But, I want my goggles! I can’t swim without my goggles! Dad, PLEASE! Can we PLEASE go home and get them?”

“No, Jack”, His dad says.  “ I told you to pack everything you needed and it’s too late now!”

“Aw, come on!” says Jack, “I really NEED my goggles!” Jack gets teary eyed and visibly upset.

“Jack,” Nina says softly and kindly, with her sweet tender voice, “You can use MY goggles if you want too!”

“NO! They’ll be too small for me! I want my own goggles!”

Jack begins to pout and starts to cry.  This is how he sometimes gets adults to change their minds and do what HE wants.  Because Jack is crying, Allie and Kellan start to get sad as well.  Even though they usually get on each other’s nerves, when one or the other is crying, they seem to have sympathy “sadness”.
Apparently, they really do love and care for each other.

At that very moment, my son, “Uncle” Matt, says, “Smile, say cheese!”  And he snaps a picture.

This is one of my all-time favorite pictures.  I smile because my heart is full here. First of all, all four of my grandchildren are together and I’m also in the picture. This is extremely rare.  I have very few pictures of me with my grandparents, and I know it will be a treasure.  And even though they aren’t all smiling and happy, it tells a story.  It tells a story of a day we had so much fun together on the boat. It tells the story of grandchildren who want to be with their grandparents and do things together.

The rest of the story goes like this:
We did get in some swimming in the water on this beautiful summer day. We found a spot on the beach at “Party Island” to park our boat, which is not easy on a sunny weekend day.  Jack learned that he could still swim without his goggles! We had a nice lunch on the boat, treats and beer for the adults included! We saw swans and ducks and felt the fish tickle our legs.

Even though the moments with these four are sometimes challenging and full of laughter and then crying intermittently from one minute to the next, I get to share time with these special kids and I love every moment of it.  I treasure this photo because it reminds me that…

“Sunflower” moments are precious.



July,  2015