My Favorite “Boy” Friend

Before I get to my “boy” friend, I have to tell you that someone must have missed the friend I so callously killed the other day. He or she came looking for her lost friend, and gave me the scare of my life. It crawled up my pant legs!

This is what the little critter was looking for! I’m compassionate but not when it comes to mice. Now I have several traps set. I’m not happy with myself  because I have such a hard time getting over these visitors. But as quickly as possible, let’s get to another subject.

I have not even scratched the surface of what I was planning to write this month about friends. It might take me the entire year! But I want to close this month with “broche de oro,” as they say in Spanish, meaning a perfect or spectacular end (literally “a gold pin”).

If these shoes could talk, they would have lots of stories to tell. I’ll do the talking. These are my favorite “boy” friend’s shoes, my grandson David. Remember, “don’t judge me if you haven’t walked in my shoes”! It’s not easy to be David. My daughter used to say that when he was a baby. Then we didn’t know what his problems were, but he has finally been diagnosed and that makes it easier to know how to handle him and treat him.

As I have mentioned before, David has a special place in my heart because he filled the hole the passing of my first-born had left. There is a special connection I don’t have with any other boy. I guess some of it has to do with the fact that I never had a son. David is the answer to my daughter’s childhood prayer of having a little brother. Now God gave her a son! And I get to enjoy him!

A few month ago David took upon himself to provide me with a snack every afternoon. He’ll run up the stairs screaming “You’ve Got Mail!’ It reminds me of the time I had email through AOL. That’s what a guy would say every time you opened up your account. The “mail” is a granola bar (that I supply and put in the pantry). This might not seem like a big deal, but it sure warms my heart every time.

The last few weeks we have been playing card games, like UNO and I SPY. We make a learning session out of it and talk in Spanish (I do the talking and he repeats). When I’m busy he will play the game with his transformers.

David playing UNO at his sleep-over Saturday evening

The big thing for David is playing with Transformers. He used to be a big train-fan of Thomas and Friends. I got him several sets of tracks and lots of trains. Then it was Legos, all the time combined with puzzles. Now it’s the Transformers.

Some of David’s Transformers friends

I learned some of the names of these guys Saturday evening. It was his turn to sleep over and I don’t remember how we got into the project but we made a Transformers coloring book. I scanned the instruction sheets, worked my magic in InDesign and printed out a 10-page book, with cover and all. He was so excited he would run dow and show his dad every new page. And, of course, come Sunday he had to take his book with him to church.

One of the afflictions af David is ADHD. Maybe the “afflictions” are more for the people around him. But we have learned that if he can keep his mind and hands occupied it will be much easier for us all. I pray that God will channel all the extra energy he has in great service for the Lord. David always carries around a back-pack full of stuff to work on.

For the sleep-over he carried all his stuffed animals upstairs. I guess the Grandma company wasn’t enough. But he humored me and let me take a picture. Most of the time he is not willing to get his picture taken.

My “Boy” Friend cuddling with one of his Teddy Bears

My daughter showed me an interesting suggestion she found in a book for mothers. Write down what irritates you about each of you children and pray about it! I think it applies to grandmothers, too. At the moment I can’t think of something that irritates me about this boy. We had a couple of difficult months when he was taken off his regular medication. David is now back to being a little more “normal,” whatever that is.

We talked about love last night, a different kind of love. David talked about the devil’s love. “His love is hateful,” he said. He wouldn’t accept my explanation that the devil has no love.

I see some good traits in David. He is loving and caring. The other day he fixed me up with some water bottles. “You deserve this,” he said. “You have worked hard. You need to have water if you get thirsty.

In talking to his mother he said, “When I get older (he’s seven now) I’m going to be responsible for all the dishes. I will do them all by myself!”

David has some anxiety issues. My prayer for him this year is that he will learn to rejoice in God and not be anxious about anything, but learn to trust God for everything. I pray that he will always have a tender heart towards God.

So what irritates me? I get irritated at myself because I can’t make him obey me as he obeys his daddy. But then, I’m not the daddy, just his Swedish grandmother that loves him unconditionally.

What’s his latest thing to try to get on my nerves. Repeating “Harry Potter” over and over. He must have heard about him in school because in this house we don’t talk about that guy.

To wrap it up for now, let me say that I’ve enjoyed my “David-time” immensely this weekend. Saturday morning he went with his dad to work at church building a platform. He was excited about helping out. In the afternoon the family took a walk in the woods (the weather was gorgeous) but he stayed. He cannot handle sweating very well and he had sweated working at church. So he came up to me and said, “I need to be taken care of!”

That’s when the second mouse incident happened. I felt like I needed to be taken care of. It felt good to have David’s company when I had a mouse hiding someplace in the room. And I was glad I didn’t have to sleep alone that night.

What a joy to be a grandmother and to have a grandson, such a grand grandson!