From the Heart
Leah comes bouncing into the lanai (back porch) in Tampa. “Grandma, tomorrow is your birthday. How old will you be?”
I laughed as I knew this would be an interesting conversation.
“Leah, how old do you think I am?”
She started guessing. Let’s just say she was obviously trying to get on my good side and wanting to ask me to put sprinkles on my birthday cake. All the numbers were low…very low. Leah loves sprinkles.
Then she started counting. She got to 24 and said, “How many more Grandma?” I said to count a lot more. She finally stopped at 40 and skipped to 80.
I said, ‘Wow girlie, you jumped a bit too high. I’m 61 today so how old will I be tomorrow?” She grinned and said in amazement, 62?”
“Yes, do I look 62?” She giggled and exclaimed, “Well not yet!” I laughed out loud.
Then the discussion went to what I did not have as a little girl. No phone to carry around. No color tv, just black and white. Leah looked a bit perplexed, “black and white are colors.” No iPad, no tablets.
I explained to her that when I was a little girl we did not have seat belts or car seats for kids. We just jumped in the car and off we went.
I know all this was a bit much for a four year old to comprehend. Her world is so different from mine when I was four.
I can’t imagine what Leah’s world will look like when she is 62. Obviously I won’t be around but I just know that I want her to be able to count all the wonderful memories she had with her Grandma Janet.
At least I am helping her learn to count to the higher numbers. And yes, we put sprinkles on my birthday cake that she and I made together.