Simeon’s feet in his
father’s hands!
Our Grandson was slow in
coming into this world. On the Monday of
the week of his birth his mother (his incubation machine, as she called herself)
mowed the lawn. Not even a hint of a contraction. Nothing happening. The only
thing that happened was the neighbour coming out and asking her if she should
be doing mowing the lawn in her condition?
Tuesday, she “walked” over
to our house! Still nothing. I suggested we rent a jack hammer...she smiled benevolently
at me...
That afternoon, I came
home from the studio and saw a note from my wife. It announced that Natasha was
in the hospital having “light contractions”. Finally, it was happening. I whipped
off an email to the family expecting the birth to happen that night!
That evening they were back at home! The next day I had to retract the email and explain the “false alarm”.
I decided I needed to stay out of the grandchild birthing reporting business. I
knew being a reporter was tough but this grand-child had already got me into
trouble.
Thursday afternoon they
were back in the hospital with the “light contractions” and at 4am Friday
morning Simeon William arrived. He was 8 lbs. 14 oz. He was and is a beautiful
boy. As soon as we could... we visited them and took the photo you see above.
Here are a few things a “grandchild”
means to me. Here are some random thoughts in no particular order: First, the
stunning reality that the family is growing. First there were the amazing in-laws
becoming part of the family and now we have descendants! Then there is Simeon
himself, the first grandchild who represents the next generation. Who will he
be personality wise, career wise and so on? I keep thinking about how fortunate
he is, through no choice of his own he’s become part of a good family, a family
with the means to give him the best life possible, a loving home, a spiritual
foundation, the best education possible, amazing career options, and all in the
democratic, free “safe” country of Canada! Wow, what amazing opportunities lie
ahead for him!
Here's the thing, his father is a Dr. of Psychology, his
mother has a theology degree and has a love for linguistics, one of his
grandfathers is a medical Dr. He has artists, theologians, writers, public
speakers, businessmen and women and such all around him. He will be introduced to “special mind challenging games” for children. He simply doesn’t have a chance,
he’ll have to become a “doctor” of any one of the above. Of course, I'm very sure he'll become an artist with his Doctorate in some aspect of ceramic sculpture!
My job as a grandparent?
To love and encourage Simeon and his parents. (No problem there!) Plus, to play with him the simple games I can handle and understand! Possibly bringing
back a little bit of the days when we lived on the land where as children we usually created our own games and entertainment. An aspect, by the way, of intuitive practical creativity
we so need in our world today.
Most importantly, no pressure. Actually all of this doesn't really matter when you can see he's got ten toes...he will always be perfect, just as he is!
“Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who
was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the
Holy Spirit was on him.”
Luke 2:25
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