By Shannon Williams
“It is a happy talent to know to play”…Ralph Waldo Emerson. Play is one of those things that we forget just how full of wonder and joy it is, until we are lucky enough to have a grandchild enter our world. We had our 5 year old grandson ‘Roscoe” visit over the weekend; we just spent the whole weekend playing in every way we could. Roscoe is great at playing by himself, but he so loves either bringing you into the play or having you just watch him, so he can give you a running narrative of what is taking place. Paul was watching car racing some this weekend, so Roscoe decided he should race, and race he did, round and round the porch. He would let us know when he won and when he lost. When he would run out of gas, he would run in to get some Cheetos to fill his tank. If we were not watching and cheering him on, he would have a spin out and it was our role to rush to his aid!

I had decided that we should start making some Christmas gifts for those he loved, so I got a small set of Fuse beads so we could make magnets to give to his parents for Christmas. He counted out how many of each color bead we would need and placed them so carefully, and soon a fish began to appear. Doing “ perler beads” was a fun with my own son, and I had saved (so I thought) our big box with all the supplies. After telling my hubby that I think I had a big box of supplies in the garage storage, well, we had to go and find them. To get to our storage in our attic, you have to climb up a 10-Foot ladder, which is up against the side.. Well Mr. Williams gave it his best shot at finding them in a box marked “art house” but it was a no go; so up the ladder I went. Did I mention I have one new knee and one original knee both of which don’t move so good? But I got up and began the search and did I search!

When I lived in West Texas, I lived outside of the city, so I had a large shop/garage and a little house that was the “art house”. This allowed me to keep some many items for projects and now they all reside in our garage! Well it was a failed mission! No supplies that we needed to be found. But now I had to get down!! I have often said in my life that I think I have a guardian angel with a drinking problem, but yesterday she (it’s a big job to be my guardian angel so I assume it is a woman) got the job done and got me down the ladder. OK, Mr. Williams was an expect guide and support and did not laugh once!

But never fear, Amazon had all supplies we needed and will be here by the next time he visits. I had made up my mind that I was not going to work any this past weekend and thanks to our little visitor, we just played and played, but we need to find a home for the “tooting turtle“ he has a little problem with gas and needs to be an outside turtle !!!

Remember to take time to play, even if you don’t have a young soul to show you how.

[Nov-9-2020]