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| 2 wise old souls at 6 years old! |
They say that our role as adults is to teach our children.
I am constantly amazed at what they can teach us, about ourselves, if we stop and listen.
Some grandparents are called other names, nanny, pappy, Mamey, Granpop, etc… Our grandkids have stuck with just ordinary grandma and grandpa. We are happy with that as it fits. We are just ordinary folks with no real tradition of names or habits of doing things. Sometimes we wish we did but then again, life is simpler this way.
Little things from our grandkids mean so much to both of us.
The thoughtfulness of even the smallest thing melts our hearts as it does to most
any grandparent. Getting a Starbucks travel cup from my grand-daughter Ava,
after she told her Mommy she must buy that for Grandma Ronni, was precious! She
has already duly noted my obsession for Chai tea from SB.
The winter hat from Kaleb that Grandpa Jim proudly wears on
display for all the neighbors to see when he walks Charley. It not only keeps his head warm but his heart
because it was from Kaleb.
At this stage in our life, anything from any of them means
so much. I have fought a battle with cancer, and won. There is no guarantee it
won’t return. Several of my friends have fought or are fighting it again. Some had diagnosis dates close to mine. My
husband has lost his only son. Again,
having grandchildren is special, they will outlive us. We do what we can when we can to let them
know they are forever locked in our hearts. Their gifts of any kind, even a
gentle kiss remind us that we too are loved back by kind innocent hearts.
I co-wrote a research paper in college on the “Use of Art in
Therapy.” I quickly discovered that
since the beginnings of time, humans have used art as a form of
expression. Recently, both of my six
year old grandchildren have drawn pictures of Grandpa Jim and I. They wanted us to display their artwork.
Rather than hoard it to ourselves, I thought I would share it on my blog
page. Also, I have included some of what
their insights are of us that I have drawn from these pictures. Pure speculation of course …
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| Ava A. Glasmeier's Drawing of Grandma & Grandpa |
Ava:
- Apparently, in Ava’s eyes we have very colorful personalities. This could be biased by her ‘colorful lively ‘perception of the world.
- We have large feet and mine rarely stay on the ground. I think the implication here is that I have my head above the clouds. This may not be altogether wrong, at least some of the time.
- Grandpa Jim was born with antennas on top of his head. I can only surmise this implies he is aware of everything going on at all times. Thus, it is hard to keep a secret from him and also he is a good one to ask about what is around the corner. I suppose we should nick name him the Family Radar in Ava’s eyes.
- There is a large M on this drawing, much like the Golden Arch at McDonalds, so apparently she equates us with that fast food chain. This could be explained away easily by our desire to spoil her and get her happy meals there. I wouldn’t dare think it was because either of us reminded her of Ronald McDonald.
- Grandma Ronni needs to be on the TV Show What Not to Wear or come to one of her princess tea parties to learn how to dress pretty. She did put me in my favorite color purple and a dress but I am far from stylish. I really think that my red leggings clash somewhat with my purple dress!
- This next observation is a self-serving one. Grandpa Jim does not help Grandma Ronni enough. Well actually, I am just analyzing my grand-daughter’s picture. Grandpa is minus his right-hand on her image. He is right-handed so how much help can he be to me or anyone without it?
- I noticed she has a zigzag line across the front of my face. This could be a worry line, a sign of a migraine or, God –forbid, she is already noticing my wrinkles! (Please tell me no)
- There appears to be wings, red in color, coming off of Grandpa. For some reason, there are three wings! She must feel he needs to be on a diet. Two wings are not enough to lift him off of the ground.
- Our grass is orange as in dead on the bottom of her picture. She is right-on, we live in the south and she knew not to pick green!
- The overall comment about this picture is that Ava picked each of our favorite colors to use on us for clothing and put a huge smile on both of us as if we were thinking of her! That is something we do all the time!
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| Kaleb Bolon's Drawing of Grandpa Jim |
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| Drawing by K. Bolon of Grandma Ronni |
Kaleb drew a picture of us individually. I am not sure why, perhaps he thought it was important to show our individuality. Just a guess, who knows?
Kaleb:
- Compared to living in Northern Kentucky, the sun is always shining in Nashville, Tennessee!
- Going hand in hand with that, the sun smiles down on us southerners!
- Grandpa Jim has his hands on his head. He must be getting frustrated with Grandma Ronni, again or it is just a good resting place.
- Grandma Ronni has no clothes on. I guess it doesn’t matter what I wear around him, the furthest thing from his mind is fashion! Grandpa Jim is naked too.
- Grandpa has shading around his head which can imply, in these types of drawings, anxiety. Now this is interesting to me because most folks would call Grandpa Jim laid back but I know he has some underlying anxiety. From this pic, I think his little six year old grandson knows it too!
- Grandma Ronni has eyes but no eyeballs. Does that imply, at times, I can be clueless? Possibly my six year old grandson has been ‘clued’ in!
- Kaleb told me that the blue lines represent a train track. Grandpa is walking towards it. I am not sure if this is a good thing or not. It is interesting he choose this because, as a small boy, his grandpa loved to play on train tracks. Kaleb never knew that and yet drew tracks on a picture of his grandpa. Ironic or intuitive?
- I think our grandson thinks our house is small. He has it drawn coming up to about my waist. Either that or my personality is way bigger than our house.
- Folks we have the most well-manicured lawn in the world according to Kaleb! Look at that line and eat your heart out. Looks like a fairway on a golf course.
- Grandpa Jim is going to be bald in the future and my hair is going to go from short to very funky, possibly only growing on one side. But since Kaleb had a big smile on when he gave me the pictures, I know he would love us bald, toothless and feeble!
