This past summer (note: it already feels like autumn, with frost predicted for tonight!), we had a 16 year old granddaughter living with us. First time living away from home, first job. It was wonderful. This young woman is intelligent, articulate, knowledgeable and energetic. She appeared to enjoy working, and also appeared to enjoy spending time with her elderly grandfather and Oma. She is also cheeky, a trait she inherited from her mother, and…I have to admit… from me. We had some memorable exchanges. If I complained about being unsure about trying something on my new smart phone, her response would invariably be, "That;s because you're so OLD, Grampa." It was back and forth like this all the time. Interacting with her took years off my internal self image. Here she is, in all her glory, as we prepared to go out on the one occasion when she wore a DRESS!
Of course, when she left, the house felt quite empty. We had been a bit prepared for this when her younger brother left, a few days before. He had been with us for just a couple of weeks. Quieter and less extroverted than his sister, he had the same twinkle in his eye, and a similar wicked wit and cheeky repartee. I came to appreciate him a whole lot during the time we got to spend together while his sister and Oma went to work. He helped me cook, shop, and play games on the computer. His favorite way to bug me was to start describing his favorite game, involving monkeys and balloons. He would launch, and I would yell at him until he stopped, laughing and snorting. It probably seemed outrageous to see. It was wonderful to experience.
This summer with the kids was great preparation for the part time ministerial job that I started in August. I am working in a congregation in a nearby community. Their youth minister left, and I am filling in until they can call a replacement. Most of the task I have been given involves Sunday morning worship and contacting neglected seniors. However, I have the opportunity to interact informally - and perhaps formally as things develop - with the youth of the congregation. I am finding that my summer experience has not only prepared me for this, but has also whetted my appetite for it. I have been aware for many years how grandparents often can come closer to young people than can their parents, because there are fewer developmental issues to deal with. Thus far, I have found interacting with the youth of the congregation to be enjoyable and satisfying for me, and, I am discovering, is stimulating for at least some of them.
I feel like I have been back to school, and have learned some fresh things about the world of at least some young people, as well as about myself. This experience has buoyed up my sense of hope for my own gifts in ministry at this advanced age. I am realizing that, as I age, I tend to close off areas of experience as being improbable for someone my age - like relating creatively with young people - and that now, I am having to revise my self image and reclaim old competencies. It's all quite stimulating.
Tomorrow, I'm off to work again, this time, to Bible Study and visits with ailing elders and shut-ins. Youth will have to wait until the weekend!
Of course, when she left, the house felt quite empty. We had been a bit prepared for this when her younger brother left, a few days before. He had been with us for just a couple of weeks. Quieter and less extroverted than his sister, he had the same twinkle in his eye, and a similar wicked wit and cheeky repartee. I came to appreciate him a whole lot during the time we got to spend together while his sister and Oma went to work. He helped me cook, shop, and play games on the computer. His favorite way to bug me was to start describing his favorite game, involving monkeys and balloons. He would launch, and I would yell at him until he stopped, laughing and snorting. It probably seemed outrageous to see. It was wonderful to experience.
This summer with the kids was great preparation for the part time ministerial job that I started in August. I am working in a congregation in a nearby community. Their youth minister left, and I am filling in until they can call a replacement. Most of the task I have been given involves Sunday morning worship and contacting neglected seniors. However, I have the opportunity to interact informally - and perhaps formally as things develop - with the youth of the congregation. I am finding that my summer experience has not only prepared me for this, but has also whetted my appetite for it. I have been aware for many years how grandparents often can come closer to young people than can their parents, because there are fewer developmental issues to deal with. Thus far, I have found interacting with the youth of the congregation to be enjoyable and satisfying for me, and, I am discovering, is stimulating for at least some of them.
I feel like I have been back to school, and have learned some fresh things about the world of at least some young people, as well as about myself. This experience has buoyed up my sense of hope for my own gifts in ministry at this advanced age. I am realizing that, as I age, I tend to close off areas of experience as being improbable for someone my age - like relating creatively with young people - and that now, I am having to revise my self image and reclaim old competencies. It's all quite stimulating.
Tomorrow, I'm off to work again, this time, to Bible Study and visits with ailing elders and shut-ins. Youth will have to wait until the weekend!
Loved it! This is exactly why I love the university environment: they keep you young and growing positively with their enthusiasm and energy. New ways of looking at the world that we sometimes forget. They are a gift to be cherished, for certain. And man, does she look like Lola!
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