Monday, October 29, 2012 @ 12:18 PM
Good afternoon! It’s
us! AS you MIGHT have noticed our
WONDERFUL Grandson is pictured here with us.
We are soooooo honored to have spent this time with him. He’s everything his Mom said and more! We had lunch with him and his Mom for the
first time yesterday afternoon and I was soooo excited that I came home told
Rich everything (rambled) we could remember, and then literally we pulled in
Chief (one of our two kitties) and put ourselves in a sleep situation for an
hour or two. It was just a far out place
mentally to go because of its awesomeness!
I’ve always felt I loved Austin, but now we have been
introduced as a much older child who we can relate to as long as he would like
us to be involved in his life. He is
just SOOOOO terrific! I won’t go into
too many details, because we want to save his privacy, but from our point of
view we were incredibly amazed with his brightness, his care and concerns for
others, his ability to articulate what is one his mind, how curious and honest
his questions are, and how easy it is to fall for him! He’s just unbelievable he is so magnificent. This is not to say that my other four
Grandchildren (all girls) are any less, but to meet one for the first time …
you just have to know we’re going to be bowled over.
We brought him just one gift which was a picture of his Dad
around our Grandson’s age. Both he and
Laura thought the two looked so much like each other, Austin didn’t look at it
for long, maybe that will come later, but his term for it was “crazy.” *Giggling* we were so happy to have given it
to him. I forgot to tell Laura though
that there may or may not be some other pictures of Thom in back of it. I didn’t take the back of the frame off, but
that WOULD be a nice surprise if we had indeed left pictures in the frame. We feel strongly that each of the boys
receive the pictures we’ve saved and that they should go to their families and
be continuously passed down. That is
what we felt like yesterday that we’d passed Thom to his son – our view of him
we’ve held onto for so long. I have no
doubt that we will get other pictures back to replace those gone. And, that’s the way life should turn.
There were so many topics that Austin could ask or discuss
that the visit was just way over general enjoyment. He asked questions about computers, politics,
our book, some of the people or parts in the book, our views on punishment and
a whole lot more … I’ve never been with a person who could ask more questions
than him. We have to be careful with
grabbing up attribution, because I know the relationship between he and his
mother and closer family members are more responsible for him than anything,
but I was so pleased to - to find that he liked to read, write, and had a very
inquisitive mind like ours. We teased
about his statement on being smarter than his Mom and he blushed because he
knew at this point it might be bad manners, but then we had to laugh and tell
him that his Dad had told me the same thing that he was smarter than us. We teased back later in life when we found
our IQ to prove to Thom that although it was probably that he was smarter, that
we weren’t unintelligent either. I think
Austin could appreciate that. Not only
did he ask a phenomenal series of questions, you could see him pondering the
answer and then regenerating his thoughts.
I also loved that he could follow his own thoughts and
emotions. For example his mother stated
that at first he wasn’t talking as much as normal, and he responded by saying
he might be a little nervous. That was a
perfect thing to say showing foresight and allowed us to admit that we were a
little nervous too. I could remember
thinking that I hoped I was answering his questions in a manner that was fair
and understandable and hoping that he would never stop asking questions. I think that’s one of the more profound facts
of being intelligent is being investigative of other people and things. Curious Inquisitiveness shows interest in
others and in one’s world. It’s one of
our most highly prized attributes. I
think though between us that his interest base is much larger and that he will
be able to knit together his understandings of the world in a much productive
manner. We’ve settled in our life to
figuring out things very specific to our passion of understanding multiplicity
and in dedicating ourselves to learning and teaching about that area of
life. I loved it that I could use a word
like passion and he seemed to understand.
We explained it pretty much like having an interest in something so much
that work and play got mixed-up. When we
asked what he was most curious about he talked about the atmosphere. It’s a GREAT interest!
I know I’m never as good at holding back in my blog as I
should be, but too I wanted to capture some sense of this first older person
view of him.
I think one of the most exciting things was that he was
reading our book and understanding things that he was reading. I fretted that it must be boring, but he didn’t
hesitate before saying, no it was interesting.
I think in that one sitting, Austin gave me more feedback than I’d ever
received before. You know that’s going
to sparkle us! When we had started to
write that was one of the reasons. We
had felt that even though we weren’t having common relationships with our
grandchildren that there would be some kind of legacy passed down to them where
they could find out about us much later.
I’m home that one day our other Grandchildren will do the same, but then
again it is scary too not knowing how the reading will affect their perception
of us. I’ve already gotten so many good
vibes from Austin and I sincerely love the pieces out of the fact that he seems
to intuitively want to figure out why things happen especially in people to
people relationships. I had the sense he
understood my logic for thinking one thing to another. And, that interests me a lot.
I can tell also that his mother and her family/friends have
probably been asked and answered millions of questions. I think that really is the biggest take-away …
not only that this fabulous person is a part of my family, but how questioning
his mind is … at one point we asked if he would want to be a multiple from the
information he knew so far and he said it would probably be confusing … I
remember a question around there where he asked if we all got along. LOL NOOOO … we don’t ALWAYS think in a
cooperative manner, but we could honestly tell him that communication was
better than integration. He was the one
that brought up integration and he seemed well-able to understand that each of
the parts in our minds “deserved to be there” and no one wanted to lose their
place. I was SOOOO impressed when one of
his first questions was about Gracie and then “Dear Heart” our Annemarie. I told me the rest of the visit was going to
be really something.
Ok, yes I know its 3 pages later and I’m still talking about
the meeting, but please know how much ISN’T being talked about. I do want to say it’s about 1:30 pm and they
are expecting within a couple of hours for Hurricane Sandy to hit. They say EVEN in Chicago that Lake Michigan
should have 15 foot waves on Lake Shore Drive.
We just called Rich and talked to him for a minute. He said that he would be careful with
that. It’s just that he works all around
Chicago and Lake Shore Drive is a main avenue between North and Southside’s of
Chicago. He seemed to understand our
concern, but also appeared to be pretty busy so we let him go.
We’re listening to Anderson Cooper in the background and
feel comforted to hear his voice. There
are 60 million Americans and others who have it so much worse out on the East
Coast. I did leave messages for Thom and
Duyen. We’ll feel better to know they’re
ok. It’s hard to worry about a Marine
though – they don’t make them much tougher.
Duyen added pictures this morning on a Halloween party she was at so
thinking she’s ok, but everyone has to do the hurricane. Wouldn’t look forward to being in one.
We’ve talked a little on and off with Linda today. She’s on the phone now, but still hasn’t
signed off … Tpony is going to come home later, so we’ll prepare for that if
Linda wants to talk later. I think we’re
probably much more used to Rich being out.
I don’t think much happened yesterday in and around being
able to meet Austin. I’m thinking Rich
had breaded pork, beans and rice for dinner and it was very good, but I’m
thinking that we ate later like after 6 pm.
He had had my leftover lunch for his lunch and we explained the napping J. Pretty much then I think we’re really caught
up to date. It was hard to wake me up
this morning, which seems to be happening more often. Maybe that should remind me right now that I’m
supposed to take some medicine midday.
Guess we could do that.
Ok, not saying anything here … but I think it’s a shame when
people bring their work home to bed with them.
Ya know?! Poor Chief we chase him
around the house with a camera during Halloween week!
More time has passed.
Now we’re figuring their just damn collusive! HMPF!
(6591/947)
(6591/947)
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