This week Charlotte (our mini dachshund) and I are spending the week with two of our granddaughters--seven year-old Laney and five year-old Landrey (and Moose the morkie) while their mom and dad take a few days for themselves on a much-deserved vacation. And I am happy to report that this nanna’s still got ‘it’.
I was up, dressed, hair and makeup done, and two dogs fed and tended to before it was time to get the girls up at seven. Then it was game-on to fix breakfast, make sure they got dressed, their teeth brushed, and had their water bottles and Chromebooks in their bookbags. Oh, and let’s not forget Landrey’s breathing treatment and making sure their hair was braided and accessorized to their satisfaction.
I am happy to say I had no problem getting it all done with time to spare before we got in the car to head for school. We even had enough time for both girls to pick a book for us to read. Laney picked, “Wacky Wednesday”.
You can’t read “Wacky Wednesday” without taking the time to actually find the wacky things on each page. You just can’t. So, as we looked and counted up the things that were wacky, you can be sure there were more than a few giggles and comments such as, “That’s silly!” “That’s weird!” and “Oh my gosh, that’s really wacky!” Silly, weird, and wacky—but not bad or gross or yucky. A lesson we should all take note of.
I’m going to go out on a limb here (just kidding) and say that we all feel like we’ve been living like the people in wacky Wednesday for the past eight months. I’m also going to go out on another limb (also just kidding) and say that there have been more than a few times we’ve not handled it nearly as well as the boy in the book. We’ve been grouchy, grumpy, greedy, and just plain ugly about it. And in doing so, we’ve passed those same attitudes on to our kids and grandkids.
Shame on us!
Yes, life is different. Yes, there are some minor and major inconveniences we are forced to deal with on a regular basis. Yes, there are a lot of things we used to enjoy doing that we can no longer do. And yes, we are having to spend a good deal of time and put a great deal of effort into re-thinking about how and what we can do when it comes to socializing, shopping, playing, and working, but are these things bad?
More often than not…NO! So what I’m suggesting is that as parents and grandparents we use our current life circumstances to teach resilience and resourcefulness instead of fear and frustration. And if we're feeling extra-brave and bold, maybe even laugh a little. Let's help them realize that something different doesn’t have to equal disastrous, and that strange doesn’t have to be scary. Help them realize that different and strange are really just wacky and that we can do wacky, and we can do it well.
Come on, parents and grandparents, if the Wednesday Wacky boy can survive finding a palm tree in his toilet and have to tell time using an upside-down clock, I think we can do this virus thing, don’t you?
Be salt and light,
Darla, aka Momma D