A Zillion Kisses ?2012

By Arlene Uslander

Relaxing on the living room couch after a morning of errands, I stared idly out the ??window, admiring the sprawling crab apple tree on my front lawn. ?Now in full bloom, it had started out as a scrawny twig thirty-four years ago.

A frail, elderly man and a small child ???a blonde, curly haired girl ???walked past my window. ?The man was tightly clasping the little girl?s hand in the protective, caring way that a grandparent holds onto a young child. ?The pair smiled at one another, the old man bending his head; the little girl straining hers upward. ?I would have given anything, at that moment, to have a camera close by. (This was before the days of IPOD phones that did everything but prepare dinner and lay out one?s clothes for work for the following day.) The expression of joy that passed between adult and child could have been adequately captured only by a photograph, not by mere words.

?Then they walked on, slowly, ever so slowly. ?It was, after all, a hot day, and the old man could not walk very fast. ?And, it was, after all, a long street, and the little girl?s legs weren?t long enough to move very fast. ?I watched them as they walked, their strides matching perfectly.

I suddenly found myself thinking far back to a similar scene, on another street, in another time, when an old man held a little girl by the hand. ?They, too, walked along slowly, sharing special dreams and important secrets, the way only a grandparent and grandchild can. ?My grandfather and me.

And I also recall a question one of my sons asked me at about age ten. ?How tall was Grandpa?? he wanted to know, while turning the pages of a time worn family album. ?Oh, about five feet ten,? I replied.

?Is that all?? my son asked, an incredulous look on his face. ?I remember him as being much taller. ?To me, Grandpa was a giant!?

When I used to teach school, I was very much aware of how most of the children felt about their grandparents. ?I saw the excitement on their faces and heard it in their voices when they told me they were going to sleep over night at Grandma and Grandpa?s.

I heard the fear in a child?s voice when a grandparent was ill and the child didn?t know when or if he or she ?would see that grandparent again.

?I saw the tears streaming down cheeks and felt the anguish in hearts when a grandparent died. ?I still remember seven year old Jill saying, ?When my great-grandpa died, I was so sad: I cried twenty-four Kleenex boxes full of tears.? ?Julie, who had recently lost a grandmother and wasn?t about to be outdone by Jill, reported, ?And I cried a whole river of tears!?

?Another time when the children were given an assignment to write about whether they would rather travel to the past or the future if they could take a trip in a time machine, I remember Alex writing: ?To the past ???definitely to the past. ?I?d like to travel back to when my grandpa was young so we could do so many fun things together, like playing baseball and running up and down hills.?

When I once asked a first-grade class what a grandparent is, this was one youngster?s definition: ?A grandparent is someone with a big, soft lap, a jar full of cookies, and a zillion kisses just for you.?

There are many kinds of love: the love between a man and a woman, between parent and child, between sister and brother, between dear friends. ?But I really don?t think there is any kind of love as pure and deep, as unselfish and undemanding? as enduring, and as unconditional ? as the love between grandparent and grandchild.

?A zillion kisses, you know, can last a very, very long time, leaving a whole lifetime of warm memories.
Arlene Uslander is the proud grandmother of 4 grandchildren, ages 20, 19, 18, and 5 (from her two sons and their wives). The three older ones are now at the age/stage where the relationship between grandparent and grandchildren is one of friendship as much as anything else. And the 5-year-old, who came along unexpectedly? There is no way to describe the joy he has brought into the lives of Arlene and her husband, Ira. Just no way!!!

Arlene is the author of 16 books, including That?s What Grandparents Are For, an illustrated book of verse celebrating the special bond between grandparents and grandchildren; (she is currently working on a sequel, That?s What Grandchildren Are For), and her latest publication, which she co-authored/edited with Brenda Warneka, is ?an award-winning anthology of true inspirational stories entitled: The Mystery of Fate: Common Coincidence or Divine Intervention? Visit her website: www.thefatesite.com ???

Source: http://www.senioritylifecare.com/azillionkisses/

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