The Pot of Gold

One of my current favorite quotes right now is "Children are the rainbow from God, grandchildren are the pot of gold" I have no idea who coined this quote, but I like it. As the scriptural take on the first part, God displayed the rainbow as a reminder to himself that he would never destroy his creation with floods again. When I contemplate my kids I reframe the promise by imagining that the rainbow of our kids is a promise that our lives, our dreams, our hopes, our significance will not be destroyed by the floods of pain and worry and set-backs we endure in this moment. God's promise holds true for him and for us.

Grandkids are the reward of a life spent raising our kids. Oh there were rewards from the kids, but those rewards were hard earned, and hard fought. We received very tough on-the-job training because these kids came with no instruction manual. Then, just to be funny, God sent us each one different than the last. So 80% of what you learned on the first one was useless with with the second and on and on.

These grandbabies certainly bring their own share of worry and concern. But because we are so much more settled in where we are, we can enjoy their development without the fear of scarring, the fear of failure. We get to hold them close and snuggle into their necks and laugh at their antics. The cares of raising them falls to the ones we have raised. It was with pleasure that I watched each of my kids and kids-in-law this last weekend spend most of their time instructing these little ones. As far as I could see none of the adult kids missed a single opportunity to teach. The lessons of sharing, of letting the other one finish with a toy, of correcting defiant behaviour, of encouraging kindness were all manifested at some point during the weekend.

Meanwhile, Grandaddy got to play 13 holes of golf with his eldest grandson and talk about his new hobby of running, he only won a $1 off of me for hitting the green from the tee box. Phoebe snuggled close on Sunday morning and we talked about her school and her art and dancing, the human warmth and heart warmth were treasures stacking up in my soul. Park and slides and throwing rocks are the stuff of Lincoln, and we did them all; his "no, Siddy (silly)" as fun to hear the 100th time as the first. The repetitions on the 3' slide in the backyard with Isaac as he would grin and stand at the steps, arms up, saying "Again?" OF COURSE again, who could refuse? And then Lola, who at three weeks really only has sleeping and eating and pooping down to an art, but to sit and wonder at the possibilities as I got to gaze into her face and wonder about the future. And though a while from now, watching my d-i-l expand as little Abbey grows, not yet seen, but loved already.

My rainbow has three vibrant colors that still mesmerize me. They are far beyond what I could have hoped far. They are funny with wickedly good humor. They care for all the others, not a prima donna in the bunch. Same with my kids-in-law, and expanded rainbow. Who would have guessed?

And the gold is pure and good and has made me a wealthy man. Wealth beyond my wildest dreams of avarice.

Godspeed, I hope you all find your pot of gold.
Don