He was a sweet, happy, joy-filled baby.  His little fingers curled around mine like it was the very definition of love. He laughed a lot and smiled constantly. As he grew, we discovered that he was a very funny little boy. He was always ready to take centre stage and make us laugh. He fell into the “family comedian role” with the greatest of ease.

His favourite colour

He became a very decisive little person. When given a choice, he always chose the pink coloured toy or cup or paper or crayon. I purposely would offer him blue or green or yellow but this child was determined to have pink. And so it was that my grandson’s favourite colour was pink. It bothered me. When he came of age to go to school, he chose a pink book bag and insisted on pink T-shirts and pink sneakers. My daughter and son-in-law are very progressive parents and their son’s choices were respected.

My 1950’s Christian upbringing had me thinking they should have insisted he wear, carry, choose something more appropriate. I worked very hard to be understanding but in my heart I believed this was simply a phase he was going through and all this permissiveness was only encouraging him. Silently, I disagreed with this type of parenting. Instead I prayed for him every single day. I never missed. I prayed that this child be filled with strength and courage and wisdom. Each day he became more interested in “girly” toys and clothing. All of his little friends were girls and I felt my prayers were being unanswered. He got an American Girl Doll for Christmas last year and he has loved her ever since. He takes her to his friend’s houses and they play endlessly. However, each time I see him walk out of the door with the doll and doll clothes and his pink doll carrier, all I feel is sadness.

A special tea party

On the day of his seventh birthday, he wished to host a tea party. A very pink tea party with all of his little giggly girlfriends.  The house was overflowing with the colour pink and to an outsider it would look like an absolutely perfect birthday party for a sweet little seven-year-old girl. It is not at all the path I would have wanted for my grandson.

In the real world, I do respect people’s choices. While I may not understand or agree, I do my best not to judge others. However, this is my grandson and I want the very best for him. It was a very confusing and emotionally charged day for me and I was doing my best.

I stood in tears in the shower that day, thinking about all the pink balloons that filled the living room, all the little girls in frilly dresses who would be his guests and of the beautiful pink tea party that would begin in just a few short hours. I prayed to God for guidance, like I had done for 64 years of my life.

Help me Lord. Help me to feel the way you want me to feel in this situation. I am confused and I do not know how you want me to be in this instance.

And in an instant I heard these words inside my head.

“I made him and I love him exactly as he is.” I had my answer.

And so, on my beautiful grandson’s seventh birthday, it seems it is his grandmother who had grown the most.

In a very pink shirt and a heart full of joy, little Jack taught his grandmother a valued lesson about love.

The post My grandson’s pink birthday party appeared first on Complete Wellbeing.

Holidays have become a time when we are all struggling to get all of our gifts purchased, wrapped and sent. Most times we are pressed for time and our choices are last minute without a lot of thought put into it. I’ve been guilty of that myself. However, this past holiday season, I received the finest, most thoughtful Christmas present of my life—from my grandson Jack.

Shopping time

In early September, I happened to be shopping with my little seven-year-old grandson. Like every year, I took him shopping and encouraged him to choose some gifts to give his grandfather, his brothers and parents for Christmas.

As we wandered through the store, we talked about certain items we liked. “Oh that’s nice,” I said as we passed some wonderfully thick bath towels. Jack looked up at me and smiled. In the next aisle, I saw a lovely crystal trinket and commented on it. Jack looked up again and said, “Hey Nonni, did you know that every time you like something, it has the word JOY on it?” I hadn’t noticed that, but when he mentioned it, I said, “Well, I guess I really like the word joy. It means a lot to me.” Then I joked with him, “Now remember, if mommy asks you what to get me for my birthday or for Christmas this year, you can tell her anything that says JOY on it would be a very good choice.” He smiled back and that was the end of that conversation.

After we finished choosing gifts for everyone, we went home. He helped me wrap the gifts we had purchased and then ran off to play with his friends. That was in early September. I left for my trip to sunny Florida shortly after that.

The joy box arrives

In December, I received a generous box of gifts from my daughter and her family. Inside, there was a gift from little Jack. I had to chuckle at his rumpled paper and pencilled scribbles: “To Nonni. Merry Christmas, Love and kisses from Jack.”

I couldn’t wait to see what he had hidden in there for me. I ripped the paper off to find that this little seven year old had made me a colourful wooden box, with the word JOY haphazardly glued to the top of it.

I cannot tell you how moved I was that this tiny child remembered the short conversation we had back in early September. The fact that he went through the trouble to make me a gift that he knew I would absolutely love brought me to tears. I held in my hands the little hand-made box with smudges of brightly coloured red, blue and green paint, a gift with so much significance, making it more precious to me than gold. This perfect gift will always remind me of the thoughtfulness and kindness of this little child and how blessed I am to have him in my life.

A lovely gifting lesson

Interestingly enough I had recently been to the theatre to see the movie War Room about the power of prayer. In that movie, one of the characters had a box in which that she kept her written prayers. She dated the prayers and kept track of all the ones that were answered. One of my goals this year was to find a beautiful box to put my prayers in. I began to look for just the perfect box, one with some sort of meaning, something I would keep forever. This was indeed what I was looking for. And the very first prayer that went into this prayer box was one of gratitude.

What a lovely lesson little Jack taught me with his thoughtfulness: we must pay attention when our loved ones talk to us so that when the time comes, we will know what would be the perfect gift for them!

The post What my grandson taught me about the lost art of gifting appeared first on Complete Wellbeing.