A time to learn from grandchildren

Layla, Robbie and Fiona on Christmas Day. Robbie was the designated “unwrapper” of presents for his sister and cousin.

I’m not sure I can explain what I’ve learned from my grandchildren in the short time I’ve had the pleasure to know them, but they have been among the best teachers I’ve encountered in 72 years.

They look at everything with fresh eyes, which forces an old person to at least try to keep up. Nothing to them is tired and worn out. They see possibilities, not limits.

On this Christmas night I learned that an empty plastic tube inserted into the back of a young child’s pajama shirt, rising a few inches above his neck, was magically transformed into a “suction cup launcher,” whatever that may be.

I tell myself they are forming millions of new synapses in the time it takes me to open my email or go to the kitchen for a sandwich.

Of course their parents, aunts and uncles taught me far more over several decades, expanding my pitifully narrow horizons when I didn’t realize it.

This week my wife and I have had the pleasure of spending some great days in the company of Robbie, Fiona and Layla, three of my grandchildren, ages 4, 1 and 1 respectively.

The latter two are on the verge of walking and all three bring us joy whenever we are lucky enough to be in their midst. They overflow with the electricity of life, filling any room with the opposite of peace and quiet. It’s thrilling to witness.

Their entrance into our tiny slice of existence means nothing to anyone else, but it was as momentous to us as the presence of the three responsible adults we still think of as children, those who guide us and keep us as time rolls by.

When I say we have been entertained and enlightened by “three of my grandchildren,” a purist might claim that I only have three grandchildren. Technically the purist would be right.

But I like to think that the real number of grandchildren is five, which includes the two grandchildren of my twin brother Terrence.

My brother, who died five years ago, never had the chance to know Jamie, who is 3, and Robyn, who is one month. The vacant space is always there.

I know he would have tried to outdo me in bombarding members of our extended family with photos and videos of activities both inane and marvelous. This is one of Jamie and his little sister that he would have been proud to display. I know exactly how he would have felt.

Jamie and Robyn.

Terrence would have treated my grandchildren like his own, just as he treated my children like his own, dispensing good advice from time to time and never hesitating to tell them what to do. They loved him and regarded him as more than an uncle. He was a father to his two sons and a second father to my three children.

Identical twins share more than normal connections in the genetic pool, so there is some basis for me counting Jamie and Robyn as grandchildren or nearly grandchildren.

I can’t replace my brother, but we had some of the same ideas and looked like each other. He would have been a proud grandpa. One of the things I can do is make sure they understand that.

My wife and I have had the pleasure of meeting Jamie, who is a big fan of garbage trucks and the entire sanitation industry. We look forward to meeting Robyn just as soon as we can.

As to what I have learned from these young people, it’s not a great theory and it’s not original with me— they remind me to live in the moment with them and try to appreciate this magical part of the course of human events.