Don’t leave to tomorrow what you can do today.
That proverb, often credited to Ben Franklin, encourages us to seize the day and forego procrastination.
However, it could also apply to time spent with family and friends. More specifically, with grandchildren.
Over the weekend, our two eldest granddaughters, sisters Michelle, 6 and Maeve, nearly 4, visited a little each day, enjoying the first real warm weather of the spring.
It was time to explore. Michelle, who is just wrapping up her kindergarten year at Glen Lake, began working on a “fort” under a big tree near our garden. She gathered boughs from beneath our cedar trees and used them to construct a shelter under it. I was hitting out of the sun with her little sister, Mara, seven months, when I heard Michelle scream “MUSHROOM!!!!!.”
It was an excited utterance only those who have been mushrooming with kids can appreciate. What a thrill to find the elusive morel when and where you least expect it.
The discovery was made that much more emotional as the previous week, Michelle and her dad visited their “secret spot” for mushrooming but were skunked.
After the excitement of the fungus waned, Michelle had another unexpected springtime prize: a single stalk of asparagus randomly growing in the field. Big fun.
Although the girls have had sleepovers with their other grandparents, Michelle’s only overnight at our house was in December, when her Auntie Grace was here for the holidays.
During the day Sunday, Michelle asked if she and Maeve could have a sleepover. My husband and I glanced at one another and nodded our approval.
They went home and a few hours later returned with their pajamas, toothbrushes and toothpaste, pillows and stuffed animals.
When it was time for bed, we walked upstairs to the “green room” where their dad slept for years. Michelle was on the right side, nearest the door. Maeve was in the middle and Andma snuck in between Maeve and the cold plaster wall. Maeve wanted me to read from a book. Michelle requested a by-heart story from Andma.
“How did you meet Papa?” Michelle asked. From there, I dove into the long story of how Papa went to school with my brother, Tom and were friends in elementary school. I recalled seeing Joe Hubbell when he was a senior and I was a freshman in high school. But it was years later when our paths crossed. This time at the home of my then boyfriend. We’d gather at his house and play cards with his older brother and his best friend, Joe Hubbell. Oddly, Hubbell would tease me relentlessly — pulling my chain — and on more than one occasion I declined to accept the invitation if Joe Hubbell was going to be there.
But during a group trip to a David Bowie concert, I sat in the front seat and had a decent talk. Fast-forward to spring 1984, I saw Joe in church and said “Hubs, let’s get together.”
This detail was particularly funny to the girls, who laughed really hard when they learned of their Papa’s nickname.
The rest as they say is history. Thirty-eight years later, Joe and I have three adult children and five granddaughters and are approaching retirement age.
And while we had plenty of projects planned last weekend, we also acknowledged the fact that 10 years down the line, the girls will be yucky teenagers, spending time with their “friends.”
Don’t leave to tomorrow what you can do today.
