As so many working mothers do today, my mother dropped me off at my grandmother’s house on her way to work in the morning.
One difference between now and then: the “dropping off.” No long or short car drives. No. My mother and I walked a couple of city blocks to grandma’s house.
And as we walked each day, on some days I imagined I had some other favorite name, with which I was happy to be going on an adventure to grandma’s house.
Unfortunately, my mother would not play along.
Fortunately, my grandmother would.
“Who do we have here today?” she would ask, apron around her waist, hair pulled up in a braided bun, humongous smile on her face.
And I would tell her my name du jour and she would say in a most enthusiastic voice, “Welcome, [repeating that name].”
And I wouldn’t even give a backward glance at my mother, so happy I was to be in the company of my storytelling grandmother.
If you have had an imagination-affirming grandmother or grandfather figure in your life (or maybe, especially if you haven’t), you might enjoy sharing the Caldecott-award winning book The Hello, Goodbye Window, which celebrates playful discourse between grandparents and their imaginative granddaughter, as they observe life through the “hello/goodbye” kitchen window.
Who fed your creativity, starting from your youngest years? Who gave you the imaginative lens through which to observe your everyday world?
Give thanks for them! And if that person is a grandparent still alive today, be thankful again, and reach out to them on this their special Grandparents Day!
cbhanek 