(I’m posting these for my mom, who doesn’t really want to create an account for herself but has plenty to say!)
Grandchildren Know Best: Capturing the Present for the Future
Yesterday after dinner, Natalee and I went out to look at the early signs of Spring that were hiding all over our very wild though planted grounds. Although we live near a busy street corner, the plantings hide the cars from view, sounds penetrate our verdant barriers, but in many parts of the yard, one can imagine being totally immersed in the natural world. Last year my older daughter designed a Chartres like labyrinth and she and her sister and Natalee brought the design to life in part of the front yard. Natalee and I cleared the piles of leaves covering the labyrinth, and determined to walk the path and welcome Spring.
The effect on Natalee was to remind her how much she loves the natural world. She talked about missing Nature and determined that she would spend more time outside, poking around, observing and enjoying her beautiful surroundings.
While I did a bit of pruning and planning, Natalee sang and swirled and generally enjoyed the freedom of the open spaces and the fun of hidey holes, tucking herself up into cozy spaces covered with trailing vines and branches.
In a little while, as the sun was setting, she asked if she could borrow my phone to take some pictures. She wandered in one direction, I was busy moving in another. Then as we came into closer proximity, I heard her talking and stood still to listen.
“Hi, I’m Natalee and I am literally just walking this path at my grandparents’ house.
It’s just me and my Nana and we are just walking along this path. I’m currently in fourth grade and i am, how old am I,
I’m ten. Yea! My grandmother is 75 and she is super awesome, and I love her so much. It’s March 18th and this is 2019. I just want to record this moment ‘cause this is the moment when I remembered how much I love Nature. I have missed going outside — there are some really pretty things in this yard. I have really missed that . There is a street, but I am exploring this place, and there are flowers, and I am remembering how much I have been missing Nature. There is so much out here to explore. Look at these beautiful flowers, and I can feel really connected to Nature. It’s sad to think that I lost for awhile that I lost these connections.
Look here is Me, here is Nature. Me… Nature, Me….Nature. We are the same we are one of a kind. I just love my life.” “Hi Natalee of the future. I hope I can remember this moment when I watch this video years later when I am you. I want to realize that I have changed and also stayed the same.”
“I have to go in now since it is getting dark. I had a great time out here and I plan to come out here again and to get my friend out here to walk the labyrinth with me.”
As I was hearing these sensitive and thoughtful words from my granddaughter, I was reminded of how often I think about the times in my childhood that I can no longer recall. I don’t know if I ever considered the concept of recording my voice, let alone a video, speaking to my future self, trying to help that grown up me remember, recapture a few minutes of a not particularly extraordinary day in
my life as a ten year old.
I am delighted to hear how much she enjoys the rustic very natural area that surrounds the house she grew up in, the piles of leaves that she jumped and rolled in, the path, hidden from the street and from the gaze of others, that she ran and raced on. And I’m especially pleased to think that
long after I am gone, she will have a (by then very old fashioned) view into the time when she and her grandmother strolled through the yard, walked a labyrinth, and remembered how much she loved, and no doubt still loves, Nature.
3/18/19
