It’s not officially the last weekend of summer, but school started last week and swim practice and baseball start next week so this weekend is pretty much the last hurrah for Summer 2019.
It is a beautiful day here in CT today and a couple friends are coming over and so I just want to share a real quick story with you.
When we were in North Carolina, my parents stayed in a place about two blocks from the beach.
Since they were closer than we were to the beach, they let us keep our chairs and umbrellas at their place so we didn’t have to carry them so far back and forth.
Almost every morning, my dad would take all of our stuff to the beach and set it up for us.
Sometimes I’d go for a run in the morning and then stop by and we’d take everything over together, but at least half the time we were down there, I’d walk onto the beach to see this:
One day I was walking over to the beach with Number 7 and she said to me, as we came upon this exact setup, “Mom, who set up our stuff?”
“Papa,” I told her.
“Mommy,” she said to me,
“Papa is so nice. Like SO NICE. Not because he buys thing for us, but because he does things for us.
He sets up all our chairs.
And he helps carry stuff.
He plays with us.
And he boogie boards with us.
He makes sandcastles with us…
He is pretty much the nicest person I know,” she said to me.
I have to agree with her.
My dad is amazing, and we are all so lucky to have him in our lives.
But that’s not the point of the story.
The point of the story is that Number 7, who is seven years old, sees all of this.
She notices.
She made it crystal clear. And I don’t think she is any different from any other kid. Or human being.
What she loves and appreciates most about her grandpa doesn’t require money.
It just requires his time and attention.
That’s all she really wants. It’s all any kid really wants.
Our time.
Some kindness.
And our attention.
And that is the end of my story.
What a nice story. Being a grandparent is so special.
I love this.
I was thinking that same thing when you posted your vacay photos. It’s great that No. 7 gets it. My mom lives down the street from us, and my parents were a big part of my kids lives until my dad died when my boys were 4 and 8. Now they’re 20 and almost 17, and they go over to spend time with my mom on a regular basis, just to chat. She’s showing signs of dementia and doesn’t get out much. It makes me happy to have them help me care for her.
Susie, when you grow up with a dad like yours, do you think it makes it more difficult to find a husband that can fill those shoes, those expectations? I had a dad just like yours and find that I expect my husband to be that kind of father too, but he didn’t grow with that. He grew up with the opposite and it has caused A LOT of disappointment and frustration and resentment. Can the bar be raised too high?
I remember this post and being so surprised that a 7 year old was so observant to yours dads caring ways