It’s been fun over the past 5 years to watch our parents turn into grandparents. I’ve gotten a kick out of my parents especially. There’s just something special about watching your own parents turn to mush with your kids and do things they never, ever would have done for you as a child. Two popsicles? Sure thing honey! A stuffed animal at the zoo? You betcha! A zoo umbrella, ok! Zoo sunglasses, yeah! (They go to the zoo a lot, mainly because they have passes to one of the coolest zoos in the U.S.) A little stuffed animal to remind you of our trip, of course!
My parents came to visit recently. It was their first visit in our new home. We were delighted to show them around our new town, which happened to be having its annual festival. The weekend concluded with fireworks. For a small town, we were rather impressed with the show – not to mention that we didn’t have to fight traffic, we weren’t crowded on the lawn, and it took us exactly 5 minutes to get to our car and drive home. None of the above would have been true in the big city we moved from.
We arrived with just enough time to claim our patch of grass and spread a sheet with a good view of the open sky. There were groups of people with sparklers, and a general spirit of celebration in the air. My Dad said he was going to go check something out. I watched him as he headed over towards a group of young people and I thought at first he was going to go inspect the riff-raff – maybe make sure they didn’t have something illegal that they were lighting up. But then I saw the very brightly glowing young man, and I knew that was where he was headed. Sure enough, Dad walked back with two glo-stick necklaces for the kids. I laughed. It did make it much easier to keep track of them on the walk back to the car.
It’s funny how something so little and simple makes such big memories. I get a fuzzy warm feeling every time I eat a red hot because my great-grandpa always had them at his house. I chuckle every time I see a scratch-off lotto ticket at the gas station because my Grandpa bought me one once and I won $5. Maybe in their 30’s, my kids will smile and think of my Dad every time they see a glo-stick necklace. You just never know what those Million Dollar Moments will be.
#8 MDM