With One Smile, Future Seems Brighter

Sat., May 9, 1998

Paul Graves Staff writer

My family celebrated Mother’s Day one weekend early. And what a celebration of life it was!

Do you remember a letter I wrote last September to my new granddaughter, Katie? She and her parents spent four wonderful days with us. We introduced Katie and her mother to our blood family, our church family, and almost anyone else unable to escape our insufferable grandparenting. In turn, Katie re-introduced me to some basics I’ve included in a second letter to her.

Perhaps they may remind you of some gentle wonderments for your own Mother’s Day observance:

My Dearest Katie!

Being only 8 months old, you have no idea of the gentle joy and chaotic hope you created in four too-short days. The pictures your daddy and mommy have sent us only hint at the deeper beauty you merely show in your face.

Your spontaneous squeals of joy, your two-toothed smile that electrifies a roomful of people, even your crankiness when life doesn’t happen as you plan it - so much of your budding personality can only be experienced in person. Pictures don’t do justice to Katherine Natalia Graves, the person.

You are, of course, the only baby who is able to paint a perpetual smile on her grandfather’s face.

No, that isn’t really true, Katie Lady. I have to believe every grandfather, every grandmother, has felt that about a first grandchild.

But to me, to your grandmother, to your great-grandparents, to every person who met you this weekend, you are the living reminder of life’s incredible preciousness.

We were totally charmed by your beauty and joy. We were amused by the way you alternatively sat on your throne as Her Royal Cuddliness or Her Royal Shriekness. But in the midst of your “performance,” you also give to us what every baby girl or boy gives to adults of all ages: joy in the present and hope in the future.

I was especially aware of your unconscious gift to any adult who came within eyesight of you when your parents brought you to see residents of the nursing home where I used to work, then to residents of the assisted living community when I currently work. You weaved your own special magic with those dear, sweet people, Katie.

I think of one lady in particular, sweet Katie. When we came into the facility, her eyes spoke loudly to me of sadness. They say that a lot for her. Then I introduced you and your parents to her. Suddenly, the scales of sadness and depression dropped away from her eyes. For those moments when she touched you and you smiled at her, the life deep inside of her bubbled up and shone in her eyes.

This lady has a brain condition called Alzheimer’s, Katie. She has great difficulty remembering things. It’s like she has millions of puzzle pieces floating in her brain; she grabs one and begins to remember what that puzzle piece means in her past life. You and your joy and the hope you are will become one of her puzzle pieces.

This morning, I asked her if she remembered meeting you. Her mouth formed a wonderful smile as she seemed to gently hold your memory-piece.

You and all babies possess an amazing heart-magic that invites people, especially very old people, to relive their own past joys and hopes as they gaze on the present joy and future hope you represent to them.

It is a spiritual gift you will not fully realize you offer to others until you are a grandmother yourself and make silly faces at your own first grandchild. Just try to believe your silly-faced grandpa when he tells you that you don’t have to understand the gift you are before you can share it with others who need your joy, your hope, your love.

Just share yourself with others, and stand back amazed at what God creates for both of you. You are such a grace-filled gift to us!

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