Lessons from a granddaughter 9



On a day when you’re just going through the motions; when everything feels like drudgery at its worse and routine at its best; when it’s all you can do to go through the motions; it would behoove you to have a five-year-old, super-duper-trooper of a girl like my granddaughter, Saige, nearby.  (Oh, she’s so-so-so precious.)


“We’re walking in the rain,” she sings as we make our way of the three long, hilly blocks to the T stop.  It’s been raining most of the week and I’m tired of rain but she’s not bothered by it.


“I can’t make a splash,” she says, “because I don’t have my rain boots.  Can I tiptoe through the puddles?”


And off she goes – tiptoeing through rain puddles.


“We’re riding-riding-riding on the tr-tr-train,” she says once we’re on the Redline.


“Ooohhh, I see the windmill!” she exclaims as she does every time we pass it during her visit.  “It’s going s-l-o-w today.”


And so it is with everything we do on this day.  She notices the dandelions and wants to pick them for me.  She loves to hop on and walk across ledges and borders – holding my hand – if they’re really high or balancing if they’re lower.  Why stay down on a sidewalk when you there’s higher terrain? And, of couse, at the end you have to jump off with a flourish. Steps are to skip up and down, counting all the way.

“I REMEMBER THIS!” she announces with all the enthusiasm of her whole being as we enter the Public Garden.  She’d visited once before a year earlier.  “The Swan Boats are here,” she says, pleased with herself for remembering.


When we’re killing time between two meetings on one of the benches at the Prudential Center, Saige asks me to watch as she reenacts a show she did at her daycare center.


Then she performs “What a Wonderful World” just like she did with her friends at her graduation the day before she came to Boston for her two week visit.  She takes a serious bow when she’s done and always strikes a pose when I take her picture.


The rainy day is no longer dreary and the magic of Boston – especially the center of Boston with all the majestic buildings and places to see is renewed for me.


“Can I make a wish?” she asks as we pass by the reflecting pool at the Christian Science Center.  “You make a wish, too, Grandi” she instructs. 

“I can’t tell you what I wished for,” she lets me know quite seriously.  Then smiles and gives me the best hug just in case my feelings wree hurt.  (She’s thoughtful that way.)


But I can tell you what I wished for – many more visits with my granddaughter Saige and a pledge to keep her spirit nearby to notice and celebrate the small pleasures that abound all around if you just tap into them.

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About Candelaria Silva

Candelaria Silva-Collins is a marketing, community outreach and programming consultant; writer; and trainer/facilitator who lives in Boston, Massachusetts. She has designed and facilitated workshops on a wide variety of topics including communication, facilitation, job search skills, team building, and parenting issues. She currently coordinates the Community Membership Program of the Huntington Theatre Company. Her work as Director of ACT Roxbury was profiled in several publications, including The Creative Communities Builders Handbook. Candelaria’s children’s stories, short stories, essays and reviews have been published in local and national publications and she is an active blogger. Her publications include the booklets, Handling Rejection; Pushing through Shyness: Networking Tips when You’re Shy, Slow to Warm Up or Just don’t Feel you Belong; and Real Questions about Sex & Relationships for Teens: A Discussion Guide for Parents. She has served on the boards of Goddard College, Wheelock Family Theatre, Boston Foundation for Architecture, and Discover Roxbury. She is currently Chair, Designators of the Henderson Foundation.

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9 thoughts on “Lessons from a granddaughter

  • thelma

    wonderful. so glad you and saige r having a good time when she visits. brings back all the memories with my children when they were young.thanks for sharing. love u.

  • Lilly

    My sister said to me the other day that we desperately need some babies in our family. And your post tells me why – children are such a true uncomplicated joy and best of all remind us to live in the moment. What a sweet little girl Saige sounds (LOVE her name) – and what a wonderful grandmother you are to write this wonderful memory for her. I cannot wait to have a little Saige in my life. I think I will email your blog to my daughter…it might inspire her lol. My daughter spent time in Boston as she had a boyfriend there – she got into baseball in a big way..

  • Candelaria

    When your grandbabies come you will delight in them.  I hope they are healthy and that they come as part of strong and loving relationships with no drama.  But even if there is drama, you will love them thoroughly I know.  All the best.