A TIMELY GIFT

Christmas will soon be here, and I am again perplexed as to what gifts to give.

My grandkids gift requests are simple; they will be happy with whatever Nana and Grampy get them. Buying gifts for them reminds me of when I and *Santa* shopped for their parents as children.

Their world was filled with Ninja turtles, Ghostbusters and Cabbage Patch dolls. Voltron robots, Thunder Cat figures and G.I. Joes were the beginning of marketing cartoon characters, one of the most ingenious consumer purchasing ploys ever invented.

Moving into the cherished grandparent status, I won’t get a disapproving look if they open a package containing underwear or sweater sets. It’s one of the freebies you get when they are no longer looking to you for the home run package – dollies and trucks when they were young, video games and makeup when they are teens.

Soon they will all be waving goodbye to their twenties, looking forward to blossoming careers and burgeoning bellies full with new life. It passes way too quickly; I remember wishing I could freeze those years and live them forever.

It was then I realized what I would give them if I were able: The gift of time. The knowledge to realize how quickly the smiling faces and wet, toothless grins are gone, and way too soon. To appreciate the light shining in their faces when they comprehend words and meanings as they read a full sentence for the first time. It is a memory frozen in the back of my mind as I rejoiced with them as their first teacher.

Even the teenage years, as tumultuous and heart wrenching as they may be at times, should be held up against who they were and what they will become. First loves and first heartaches, I wish I could go back and do it all over again. I wouldn’t do a thing differently; I don’t think they would want me to, anyway.

So this year I gave them all the same gift. A cherry wood wall clock with a pendulum and hourly chimes to announce the passing hours. Mindful they not waste a minute of this life they have been given and the opportunity to cherish the time left, I hope it will serve not only as a reminder of what is possible for them, but also remain as a loving memory from the one who gave them the gift of life and time in the first place.