It was given to me by my (almost) five year old granddaughter, Ava, with a
solemnly sworn oath:
Ava: “Nonnie – here
is a dime for you. I have one too. See. Now
whenever you see that dime, you think of me and whenever I see my dime, I’ll
think of you. Okay? Put it in your pocket so you don’t lose it and I will put
mine in my pocket.”
Me: “That is a
wonderful idea. I will put it in a
special place and whenever I look at it, I will think of you and how much I
love you.”
Ava: “Yes. And whenever I look at my dime, I will
think of you.”
I was so touched. Where did she come up with that
wonderful way of remembering a loved one when far apart?
What an astonishingly delightful gift to the world a five
year old can be. Young children see the world with such wonder and view so much
as “That is my favorite thing!”
It is a gentle invitation to step outside of myself and let a bit of wonder and
awe crawl into my own dimmer and tired spaces.
Interesting that this little unexpected encounter of love
comes at such an intriguing time when my family is trying to make sense of the
death of one of our own – my older sister, Joyce, who passed from this life to the
next from acute leukemia on June 10. Life with Joyce has always been a bit of a
challenge for all of us in one form or another and I have been pondering how I
want to remember her.
I have been considering making a list of her blessings –
for she did have them – they were just hard to appreciate consistently due to “other
stuff” that always seemed to get in the way. But perhaps my little granddaughter has given me an idea. Whenever I see something that has a connection to Joyce – a calico pillow she made – an afghan that I use every day – a picture – a story – my longed-for relationship with her own children (my niece and two nephews and their own families)...whenever I encounter something like that, perhaps I can consider it Joyce’s “dime” and remember the blessings that were there somewhere but always a bit of a mystery to find and trust.
So, thank you, Ava, for thinking to pledge a relationship
with me with this cherished wealth: my dime and yours. Who knew twenty cents
could foster such riches. I will not forget.
By the way, dear Reader – as Ava & her family were leaving
in their car, I was telling her Mom – my daughter, Jody, about this little
encounter. Ava piped up from the backseat: “Don’t
lose it, Nonnie. I need it back so I can
give it to my Daddy.”
I asked her
if she would like to take it back with her right then and give it to her Daddy.
She replied: “No! WHEN I COME BAAAACCCKKK
I’ll get it from you and give it to my Daddy. When I come back!”
So – that’s good news that she clearly wants to come back
and can think that far ahead to know I will honor her trust and not forget. And
if she actually does remember to collect the dime back, I will replace
it with another of my own. Some icons are too important to be forgotten or
misplaced.
In the meantime, I have a little dime on my desk that is
the treasure of my heart and shines a light about investments in the future
from which we can all learn.
4. Money. by ~heartpolkadotts
