Juan-Dre, Day One

     My beautiful grandson arrived yesterday amid a flurry of suitcases, pillows and blankets. I can tell he is growing up because, for the first time, he didn't head straight to his bed to sleep some more. He even helped carry luggage from the car to my apartment! He even said he enjoyed the road trip and that it hadn't seemed so long this time!

    His dad was recently hospitalised with a serious health condition that requires a severe lifestyle change. When Juan-Dre and I spoke about food, he said he wanted to eat healthier things than before, like carrots and sweet potatoes! What a happy granny I was to hear those words! He even said he'd try some slices of tomato on top of the mac & cheese - but he ended up giving those to me. Nevertheless, we have real progress!

    So we just lounged around for a bit, enjoying each other's company. I prayed Mincha while he listened, and thereafter, I was so sleepy, but I couldn't fall asleep, so I got up and prepared the mac & cheese for later. Then his mom came for a visit and she brought a 720-page children's illustrated encyclopaedia - they sat for more than an hour reading it together. It was dark already when they left. Juan-Dre and I then ate, and I logged in to teach my 6.30pm class. When the student didn't show after 15 minutes, I called it a day and said to Juan-Dre:

    "I'm all yours!"

"Yay!" he shouted.

    We played Monopoly for a couple of hours, until he began to ask when the game would ever end. I paid him all my remaining Monopoly Money - which wasn't much - for landing on one of his properties, and that was the end of the game.

    We headed to the bedroom, he playing a game on his phone and me listening to a teaching on the Torah portion on my laptop, and chilled there until his phone turned off for the night. We prayed the goodnight prayer - which we normally do over Zoom - and I kissed his forehead and said goodnight. With all the extra pillows and blankets he brought, I could hardly see him in his bed!

    What a beautiful ending to a beautiful day.

He woke up while I was teaching a Hebrew class earlier this morning, but was so quiet and respectful, not disturbing me at all. We had chatted about this yesterday, and since all my classes are all only one hour long, he is happy to share me with my students for those short bursts of time. He's been quietly watching me teach since he was 5, and he's 10 now, so he's gotten quite good at it.

    Thereafter, it was breakfast, wash, and walk to the shop for milk & ice cream. As we walked up the driveway, he said to me that whenever he's not with me, he always misses me. I said it's the same for me, and that had it not been for the nightly Zoom call that we do together every single day, I said I don't think I would've managed the separation. He said it was the same for him. I said I am grateful to God for allowing us to Zoom every day and that I see him in the July and December school holidays. He said he was also grateful to the LORD. What a precious little soul.

    Upon our return, he opted to go to his friend who lives around the corner for a couple of hours, where his mom will pick him up when she comes for lunch.

    Happy grandson, happy granny!