- 0
- 0
Last year, our granddaughter, now our grandson: the grandparental First Apartment World Tour rolls on. Life, as it does, kept throwing banana peels in our path, so we missed a few chapters of our grandson’s teen years. We were half-expecting a sullen stranger with laundry disasters and an empty fridge. Apparently, our thinking applied to the child of yesteryear, not the young man of today.
He towers over me now. But in my head, he’s still that toddler whose primary talents were comedic timing and cracker distribution. We treasure the video of him belting out ‘Bob the Builder.’ He, however, treats it like it’s blackmail material—which, to be fair, it is. One of my favorite memories of him as a preschooler was when we were in the checkout line at a store, and he casually spouted off, “Grandma, who are your children? I don’t believe I’ve met them.” (His father is our son.)
He’s always been wicked smart. Brilliant, but kinetic—like Einstein with a juice box and a trampoline. He is more settled now, and the brain power shines through. He defeated us in every evening game. It was humiliating, but educational. He has most of his apartment already organized. By the time we arrived, three days after move-in, he had decided upon his work and household routines. Since his office is so close to home, he chooses to walk to and from work, and even comes home for his lunch hour. He was at the DMV for his new license and tags, on his first Monday morning. Frankly, his level of responsibility made the two of us look like unsupervised raccoons.
During this visit, we learned that while his arguments are well thought out, he is now willing to listen to other viewpoints. That wasn’t the case, even a year ago. Discussions revolved around politics and the best high yield bank accounts. At one point, we found ourselves debating the reliability of food labels. We made the mistake of listening to him and, somehow, ended up changing our minds. We certainly learned from him. Appalling. Against all odds, and several years of questionable snack choices, he appears to be becoming an adult.
He is well ahead of his peers in terms of thinking like an adult. In fact, one of my new favorite memories of him is when he was leaving the apartment for work. We would be on our own for the day, so as he left, he admonished us, “Be sure to turn the lights off when you leave. I don’t know, yet, what the electricity bill will look like here.”
When your grandson scolds you about electricity use, you know the torch has been passed—and it’s using energy-efficient bulbs.