A Small Gift From One Granddaughter Blessed Me With the Memory of Another

This past week, I had the chance to spend some time with the grandchildren I see the least - my son’s daughters, N, J & G.  Because their dad is out of town on business and their mom wanted to go listen to a speaker talk about education for gifted students (N fits the description well), I was more than happy to spend an evening with the girls.
 
For those of you who have not read back in my story, J & G are identical twin girls, born just two weeks after Kitty Rose.  They are now seven years old and I think about Kitty whenever we are together.  How could I not? 

The three babies were affectionately called the ‘triplet cousins’, mostly because their original due dates were the same and they were baptized together.  Kitty looked nothing like the twins, weighed about 1.5 pounds more at birth and had a very large head circumference, compared to J & G.  They were, however, as close to triplets as our family would ever get … we hoped then and still do!  God bless the parents and grandparents with triplets.
 
So, this past Wednesday night, N, J & G arrived for dinner and after we ate the requested cheese pizza and brownies, I took them to ‘Market Fest’ in our neighboring suburb.  This weekly farmer’s market hosts other fun activities as well as the offerings of local farmers, food trucks and various food-related vendors.  This week just happened to be ‘Family Day’, which included kid-friendly booths set up by places such as the county library, the DNR, dentists, orthodontists and the Boy and Girl Scouts among others.  There were also craft tables and play areas to keep everyone busy.  We never did get to any of the ‘play or create’ activities because nearly every booth had their own project to keep the girls interested.
 
The orthodontist blew up latex gloves on which kids could draw faces or designs, the DNR had coloring sheets, several groups had trivia wheels where you could spin, answer and win a prize.   There was music and dancing and a good time was had by all.
 
My favorite part of the entire event came during the activity sponsored by the library.  The volunteers had a button maker and supplies to create 1” round buttons.  The girls could either use an already printed design or they could draw one of their own.  All three of them decided to design their own button to pop out and when G finished hers, she came over, handed it to me and said, “Grandma, this is for you.”   I looked down and saw a somewhat abstract looking red bird with unusually long legs …  a cardinal. 

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If I hadn’t thought about Kitty just from being in the presence of the twins, I was certainly reminded by this simple gesture by G: offering me her carefully designed button with the drawing of a cardinal.  There is no way that G knows or understands what the bright, beautiful red birds represent to me and to many others who believe in signs from their deceased loved ones.  But, in that moment, I felt Kitty’s presence.  G had given me the most precious gift of a sign - a quick 'Hi, Grandma' - from her cousin.  Kitty was with us at that moment.
 
The evening with my granddaughters turned out to be most enjoyable and memorable.  We laughed, ate popcorn, walked the grounds and reveled in time spent together.  A special, unexpected bonus came in the form of a gift, a simple act of generosity and love from one granddaughter to bless me with the memory of another.  

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