It had been several weeks since Eli had visited Papa and Gigi There was the customary hug, and a review of what was happening at school, “how’s soccer going?”… and the regular inquiry when there had been an long absence.
It was obvious that things were going well, as he had spoken so excitedly about his life. But, there was something new…. and secret. We were supposed to guess. After a couple of our unsuccessful attempts, we gave up.
Eli, still not willing to just lay it out there, said; “It begins with K”.
There was little that we could come up with, so to relieve the tension that was building, he surrendered; “One more letter, and it’s “I”
I thought I knew were he was headed, but tossed out; “You got a kiss from a girl at school?”
You would have thought I had thrown a bucket of worms at him, given the face he made. Never, Ever, say this to a 9 year old boy!
When he recovered from this ridiculous suggestion, he returned; “Of course not, I got a Kitten, and his name is Pumpkin”, explaining; “He has orange stripes”.
What you don’t know is; that all this has to survive the introduction to their resident hyper-jumper-dog called Doug Fir; simply called, because of his height and girth (no he isn’t green) but is beige, 5 ft. tall and 80 lbs.
Perhaps I should have withheld this part of the story until the kitten bonding was complete, but that is for another story. Please stay tuned.
The real story here lies within another observation that we made when he walked in our door with his mom. He had grown inches over the last couple of months. Somehow, years previous, we had become caught up in the idea of measuring the growth of our grandsons every time they visited. If you can’t understand and endorse this, you are not a grandpa or grandma. Growing tall is the first measure of manhood; Look it up!
Anyway, the door of the utility cabinet was opened to reveal the steady progress; inch-by-inch, clearly marked on the inside of the door. However…..this time it was way more than an inch. The mathematician in me (chronically on vacation) began to extrapolate (at least I know the word). It was obvious that by the time this boy is 18, he will be 7 ft. tall. Deal with it!
Understandingly, Eli also did take unusual pride in his remarkable growth. We, however, in this day of selfies and gratuitous pats on the back (seldom on the behind), were not sure that this is was a good thing. Either he must stop growing .We will run out of door……. or we must stop documenting it.
For the time being the cabinet door will remain closed to that exercise, and we will choose other measurements such as; character growth, overall responsibility, and eating habits
And, oh yes; kitten management. Pumpkin could end up being a pain. We are hoping that Eli would be a good trainer. (And Kitty a good listener.)
And, to both the ultimate reward for good behavior?……..
What else, but Pumpkin Pie!……… with catnip sauce ?.
