Little Kids

Here is Quincy at dinner with his grandparents. He loves to visit us, and we are happy that he comes often. He's been doing overnights since he was eighteen months old. Now these visits are easy; he loves knowing the ropes and where everything is. He notices every little change from the time he was last here. He knows where the best blackberry bushes are and where the gopher tortoise burrows are, and wants to harvest the vegetables he personally planted. I explain that the carrots are too small to eat yet but he persists and we pull up some 'tiny baby carrots' that he adds to the lettuce and peppers he carries into the house to Grandpa who will make the salad. Today's salad must include the first oranges from our annual harvest. Quincy is an orange lover and he is pleased that he personally went out and picked the fruit, made juice, and was the major taste tester of orange sections that went into the salad. By the time I get into the kitchen the baby carrots are long gone and the peppers too.
Tonight, in the dark, dishes waiting piled in the sink, Quincy and I went outdoors with our flashlights. Hand in hand, we looked for turtles and spiders. We looked at the gibbous moon and the stars above. "See, Quincy, look up there at that zigzag bunch of stars. That's Casseopia. And see that very bright one. That's Venus, the evening star." He loves his flashlight. Then we go in to take a bath and do all the bedtime routines.
As we lie close together on his bed, after having read his current favorite book, "Oxcart Man", he scrunches his face close to mine and says, "Granma Molly, I'm happy."
This could not have been a more perfect week and I am happy too. Every time I think about it, I am in awe of what America did in voting in Obama. For the first time in many years I am rejoiced and renewed to be American. It's going to be a long haul, and many sacrifices will be required, but I have hope we can do it!
I am so glad this happened in my lifetime! I could not possibly have imagined as a white person how incredible this is! Though I lived and demonstrated through the era of the civil rights movement, I never really really knew. Though I have spent my entire career as a teacher and school administrator agonizing about race issues, I never really knew.
So now we can go forth with hope and confidence in this very gifted new president. We will do everything we can to help him forge a new day for the United States of America. I notice already how many of us are speaking to each other, not being fearful.
Our little kids rely on us and we can be proud and hopeful that this new world order will celebrate their useful, not greedy, lives. It's up to us. Yes, we can do it!