I took Grace to the restroom at the ballpark today and then stood around waiting for her for several minutes. She finally came out and said, “Sorry that took so long, Dad.”
“It’s okay, honey,” I replied, “but why did it take so long?”
She smiled and said, “The smell of the soap.”
On Saturday, we were driving through Great Smoky Mountains National Park on one of the ‘motor tours’ and stopped at one of the old Ogle farmsteads. Beautiful place, unbelievable setting. We walked around a bit, shooting video, taking pictures. At one point, Jack said to Char:
“Mom, can I take a picture of just you by yourself? That way, when I’m your grandkid, I’ll remember what you were like.”
Char said, laughing, “Sure Jack, but you’re never going to be my grandchild. You’ll always be my son, but your kids will be my grandkids.”
“Well, I still want to do it,” he said. “That way, I’ll be able to show them the picture so they’ll know you weren’t always old.”
At Lily and Jack’s school, if a student gets in trouble for something, the administrators send home a notice to the parents to let them know what happened. These are called “Ram Forms” after the school mascot. (It’s also possible to get a positive Ram Form when a child does something good, but we don’t see a lot of those around the Cota house.) I mention the form so you’ll be able to fully appreciate the note I found on the kitchen counter last night. It said:
Dear Jack,
You really need to get a grip and stop telling on me. OR you’re going to get a Lily form. You are way too bossy sometimes!
From Lily
The kids took the news of Granddad’s death pretty well. We had prepared them, somewhat, for what was to come and, truthfully, their ability to cope with news and events of this sort dwarfs mine.
So it was really no surprise, though interesting, when Grace became the self-appointed escort at the visitation. Several times, she’d take someone’s hand and lead them up the center aisle to visit with Granddad. “You can touch him,” I overheard her telling someone.
A couple days later, Char is talking with Jack and he asked, “Mom, will you be in Heaven with me?” Playing on his devilish behavior, she answered, “Oh, Jack, I hope you make it to Heaven with me!” We all laughed, and then Grace and Abby began having a side conversation and Abby said, “Grace, living in Heaven will be fun: Granddaddy and Grandpa will be there. Jesus will be there… And you get to live in a box!”
Another entry from Jack’s creative writing class, in honor of St. Patrick’s Day: