Perpetual Ruminations

Grandparent's Day

I was gone yesterday; my wife and I left early and didn't get home until late, so I didn't get the opportunity to log in yesterday. Now that I'm caught up (kind of), I decided I would blite (bog-write) about my day.

My oldest son called about a week ago, his daughter had asked him if Grampa TJ and Grandma RL could attend Grandparent's Day at her school. They live a couple of hours away, and we hadn't ever been told when these were, so I was quite honored that she had asked us to come.

I told him we would try, but Grandma RL had to work and didn't have any PTO left. As it worked out, she needs replacement batteries for her hearing aids and the place she got them is very close, and on the way, to his house. Even though they would not give her an excused absence from work for our granddaughter, they would for any medical purposes.

I called him back and told him we had the time and would head down to surprise her, and her brother who happened to have his birthday the same day. He agreed to keep it between us and his wife, and the plan was in motion. So often, it seems that once a plan is established and begins to unfold, something comes along and disrupts that plan, and this time was no exception. But, we worked around a few things and made it work.

Yesterday, after dropping off the hearing aids we drove over to our granddaughter's school, found a place to park (not an easy thing), and went inside. It just so happened that we arrived a bit early and she was still at lunch. So, we were allowed to wait outside of her classroom. We were looking at some art the children had created on the wall (no, not graffiti, it was on paper taped to the wall) when she returned. She rounded the corner of the hall and squealed, no, she screamed in delight, almost knocked me over when she ran and hugged me, but before I could hug back she had already pushed off and was attacking Grandma RL.

It was wonderful to spend a couple of hours with her at her school, play bingo (I lost every game), eat some cookies (they need to add coffee to the snack menu), and enjoy her excitement. After, she insisted she ride back to her house with us! We went to the office and explained this to the secretary, who then called home to get parental permission, so we could give her a ride.

Shortly after getting to her house, my son arrived from work and asked me to ride with to pick up our grandson to surprise him for his birthday. We parked near the bus drop-off and waited. He got off the bus, engrossed in his phone as he walked towards his house (he lives with his mom for one week and with his dad for a week). He didn't notice us parked there, so my son rolled down the window and yelled at him. He didn't notice because he had ear-buds in, so my sone honked. This got his attention enough to see his ride was there. But, he didn't really look to see who was riding with his dad and assumed it was his stepmom.

He was shutting down whatever was on his phone as he put his bag in the Jeep, then climbed in, looked up, and finally noticed who was riding along. He also yelled, although not as loud as his sister had, "Grandpa!"

We returned home and had burgers cooked on the grill, smothered-baked potatoes, and birthday cake. He had requested a cheesecake first, then an ice cream cake. The place they got it actually makes a combination cake and ice cream dessert and they incorporated a layer of cheesecake into this, it was delightful.

We had a wonderful time and stayed much later than we had intended since Grandma RL had to be up early for work today but it was worth it. We returned home at about eleven last night and were both up (I figured if she has to get up early for work, I can at least get up to see her off) at five-thirty.