Special Moment #51

From time to time my son or his wife has an unexpected change in their work schedule that causes them to ask me if I could take the kids to school or pick them up after school depending on their particular situation. After pondering all of 1.5 seconds I accept the mission and the tape self destructs. The plan for this undertaking is a morning operation where I have to get up at 6:00AM to be ready to leave the house by 6:20AM. The first stop is to get a coffee and pick up the daily newspaper after which I head up north to my son’s place which is about a 15 minute drive. When I arrive the kids are out of bed, dressed and ready for breakfast. On this particular morning my son was the parent last to leave and this he did after giving the boys their waffle and syrup. The three of us then sat there watching cartoons as we usually do until they finish eating and move into the living room. I stayed in the kitchen sipping my coffee and nibbling my toast so as to drag out the finishing of my breakfast so I can get to read my newspaper. This is a tricky situation because the boys will not put any pressure on me to get up and play with them if they know I have food or coffee left to consume. The paper really doesn’t concern them so you can see why I have to coordinate these two tasks. Finally I finish or they determine I’m stalling and up I get to be armed with my sword and helmet or some other such weapons and away we go. These can be very hard fought battles and I know I won once, it’s just that I can’t remember when that was exactly. Suddenly it’s time for school and the boys automatically drop everything and head for the door. I think they were late one time and Daddy explained that it wouldn’t be a good idea if it happened again. On with the shoes, coats, hats and mitts, then pick up the back packs and off to the truck we go to get strapped in to their booster seats. It’s only a 5 minute ride to the school but we have to get there early because my oldest grandson gets picked up by a bus at the youngest one’s school. This is because he goes to another learning facility across town. After getting the #1 grandson on to the bus #2 and I sit in the truck talking and trying to keep warm until it’s time for us to walk up to the fenced off holding area where the kids all hang out until the bell rings and then file off into their classrooms. Once there I would lead #2 to the gate and the teacher would take over from there. On this particular morning however, my little guy (he’s just about 5 years old) decides he’d rather I stay with him for another 5 minutes until the bell rings. So this is what happened, he looks up at me and says,” Grampa it is unusually cold this morning, do you think you could keep me warm until I have to go in.” I couldn’t believe he just said “unusually cold” but regardless Grampa knelt down and put my arms around him in a big bear hug and kept him there nice and warm until he was summoned by the bell. We didn't move for 5 minutes in this pose which was wonderful.This is another special moment in time that I will never forget.