The Old and the Young

My day today was all about balancing the very old and the very young. I have new-found respect for both.

We made a quick trip down to Newport News to celebrate my uncle’s 90th birthday. It was rather low-key for so many years. My 62-year-old cousin came down from Friendsville, MD, where he owns a health food store. The 4 of us went to a lunch of sandwiches in the cafe of “The Chesapeake,” a senior facility where my uncle now lives. We split 2 cookies 4 ways for dessert. I gave him a collapsible cane and a can of chocolate macaroons we forgot to serve at our seder last night. We looked at a bunch of old family photos and the few momentos my uncle salvaged from his house of 50 years. He showed us his latest book purchase: Card Games for Dummies, so he can learn to play “those games the ladies here are playing.” He seems happy and well-adjusted, despite being all alone now. He said we would have a steak for his 91st birthday, so obviously he is signing up for another year! I gave my cousin a hug and shook my uncle’s hand (because most of that family are not huggers) and we headed back up the road for what should have been a 2-1/2-hour trip home.

I started to worry when the traffic on I-95 came to a standstill around 4:00. I had to be at the shelter by 6:30 to read. I was in charge tonight, so I didn’t want to miss it. Finally the traffic broke loose with no explanation after about 45 minutes of stop and go.

There were almost as many volunteers as children at the read-aloud. We worked hard to settle squirming bodies onto individual carpet squares. Two children had to be bodily removed from the room for short time-outs. But all in all they did a fairly good job of listening to books about babies and baby animals. We did a “warm-up” for the activity by counting to 100 as a group, with everyone joining in and a 3-year-old doing a break dance in the middle of the circle when we passed the numbers she knew. They each whipped through several pages of dot-to-dots, always somewhat amazed at what animal they formed.

Then they got to each pick an animal finger puppet out of a grab bag. The idea was that they could give the puppet a voice. It quickly became apparent that the animals were channeling a lot of inner feelings in these young children.

As a group we came up with the idea of reading a book and then doing a puppet show the next time it’s our turn to read. If anyone has a book in mind that would give about 6-8 children a part, please let me know.

It was a long day, starting at 6:00 am. We covered 330 miles. I felt like my encounters with both the old and the young today were far too brief. But they left me with a lot to think about.