When I was 13, my niece was born.
I adored her and she was the apple of my mom's eye.
When my brother's family came to visit or when we visited them,
it was all about her.
It had been a long time since there was a little one in our family
and we loved every minute we had with her.
When she was about 4, she loved putting little things in baggies...
you know the kind with the twist ties.
There was no such thing as "zip locs" back then! :-)
So, every visit, my mom would buy a new box and she could
use as many as she liked...pretty cheap entertainment, really!
For days after the visit (sometimes weeks), my mom would
find those bags in drawers, under pillows, in closets.
Each one containing some special treasure...bobby pins
from my mom's dresser, a few marbles from the toy box,
a spool of thread from the drawer in the sewing cabinet,
a card or two from a deck, a piece of paper she had colored on.
With each discovery, my mom would laugh or sometimes cry...
if it had been a while since the last time she had held her in her arms.
On Wed afternoons, I keep Little E and Little C so my daughter
can work for our boss, the doctor .
This Wed, before nap time, Little E found the bucket
of plastic Easter eggs in the closet and wanted to hide them.
It was too hot to do it outside, so I told her to hide them in the house.
When she finished hiding them, she became interested in something else
and then it was time for her nap.
After my daughter picked the children up, I saw the bucket and
remembered there were eggs hidden that needed to be found.
I found a few in the family room that were in plain sight,
picked up the other toys and got busy with dinner.
Later that evening, I went into the rooms where they slept
and found an egg in each pak 'n play.
Then Hubby found one under the bottom edge of the dishwasher
which made us both laugh.
There was one under the recliner and the sofa table.
I found another one in the middle of my bed and when I went into
our hall bathroom and look down at the stepstool that the
little ones use to reach the sink, there was another one.
I laughed again and got a little teary...remembering
my mom's reaction to those little baggies!
I always thought it was sweet, but now that I am a Gran,
I understand the joy and delight finding those little gifts
left by little hands brought her as she remembered the time
she had spent with her little granddaughter.
I think I still have some eggs to find, but just in case she hid
them really well, I left the one on the stepstool.
It makes me smile every time I see it and I remember....
