"A child is going to remember who was there, not what you spent on them. Kids outgrow toys and outfits, but they never outgrow time and love."
Our son-in-law Kyle dropped off our sweet 14-month old granddaughter Emmy to babysit yesterday. Emmy’s 3 1/2 year old big sister Lyla whom Kyle was taking to preschool wanted to get out of the car to say hello to Nonnie and Papa. Once here she didn’t want to leave. Kyle gave her a few more minutes and off she went—reluctantly I may add. By the time Lyla was ready to be dropped off, one of the school’s staff members said there was a power outage and classes were cancelled. Lyla is too young to realize it yet, but she was the recipient of a happy accident, or one can say, she got her wish. It reminds me when I was a young boy and really didn’t want to go to school the next day when a snow storm hit and school was cancelled.
When good things fall into place, Cecile and refer to them as a “happy accident." This is based on the fact that we ourselves have been fortunate recipients of these type of events such as the time we reserved connecting rooms at the Hotel Lutetia in the heart of Saint Germain in Paris and were upgraded to a penthouse sweet overlooking the Eiffel Tower.
Lyla said she was hungry so Cecile made croissants for all of us for breakfast, and prepared some fresh cut fruit to go with it. Lyla also wanted "something special" to drink which is usually code for fresh orange juice which we ran out of. She settled for a little glass of plain sparkling Pellegrino.
We decided to take the girls for a stroll around the lake where we live to explore nature, something the girls love doing. We saw a number of lizards, turtles—big and small—lounging on the rocks, one that had a black American Coot (mud hen with web feet) standing next to it. There was also a raft of ducks paddling toward us in unison across the lake. Finally, the girls saw white tailed rabbits darting in and out of the bushes or what Lyla described as “scampering,” which caught us off guard. I don’t think I ever used the word scampering until I was in my teens:-) Later, I pointed out a metal utility rowboat that was tethered to shore we had both sat in when she was younger. She said, “I want to go in!” She did with my supervision and she was all smiles. On the home stretch of our walk, Lyla said her legs were tired. So I carried her until Cecile recommended placing her in the stroller while I carried Emmy back home. I changed Emmy’s diaper and got her ready for her nap. She was in a giggling mood and relaxed in my arms as I rocked her to sleep.
Ducks across the lake