WWQP Bulletin Board Chat

Christmas & the reality of a six year old

Granddaughter, Addison is six years old.  She's known that I have had a quilt in the making for her for over a year, finally finished it over this past summer, sent it off to my longarm quilter, Mary L, who does a fantastic job on quilts.  I suggested to my son that he put the quilt on her bed today to surprise her; no, he insisted, it should go under the tree, it's from you.  So, under the tree it went.  An Ipad (ref??) was her main gift from her dad, she ripped Xmas wrappings off various electronic gadgets and when she got to the quilt, the look on her face was....anti-climatic to say the least.  "Finally", she said," you got my quilt done" and went on to rip off more Xmas wrappings...Anti-climatic...all that work, one day I hope she can look back on it and think..Grandma Rosey made that quilt.  We all know what goes into the making of a quilt.  A six year old child cannot be expected to have that same appreciation that she has for an iPad...(I'll get that spelling right one of these days). 

It was the first Christmas in over forty years that I have not been in charge of the Christmas dinner.  No turkey, no leftovers, no being in charge.  It went to my son, who, despite being harried at the last minute, made a memorable Christmas turkey dinner.  And you know what, it wasn't hard turning over the reigns to someone else...finally.  I'm okay with it.  I'll get a turkey in January and himself and I can eat turkey and leftovers in the middle of January.  That works for me.

Best part of the day was that I was allowed to drive the hour and a half down to my son's home, n/e of Toronto and back.  Usually himself insists on driving but my nerves are getting to the point where, in the air, there is no-one better; on the ground, watch out.  He pulls out, never looks, eases into another lane, cars honk, light turns green, he goes to turn left into oncoming traffic, wheels screech, my heart turns over.  I think it's the lack of awareness that there is traffic and while as he says, there is traffic in the sky, a plane in front, a plane beneath you, a plane above you and behind you but, I said, there is an air traffic controller and he said yes.  On the ground, you have to be your own traffic controller.  So, for the first half hour of our trip this morning, it was like driving with a six year old hyperactive kid in the passenger seat.  "What's this for; what's that for" meaning the dashboard of my Nissan Pathfinder.  "Look it up in the handbook" I said..."Can I push this to see what will happen?"  A tranquilizer dart passed through my mind...should I have slipped him something in his morning tea before getting him into the car, which was a concession on his part completely...I HAVE TO BE IN CONTROL, you know...I AM A PILOT.  Then, the story of his friend Terry, a retired airline pilot who bought a Honda and doesn't like it because he can't programme his GPS while driving the car.  The car has to be turned off.  "Imagine having to pull off the road to set your GPS" he said, indignantly. Hmmmm......I'd rather fly with a pilot than drive with them on the ground.
Rosey

posted by RoseyP @ 6:19 PM