I’M JUST CURIOUS: It’s the little things that matter

by Debbie Walker

Tonight I was thinking about all the little things in my life and how much they mean to me. Just little things. Some of the most enjoyable moments as a child were spent sitting on the floor by Grammie’s rocking chair with her running her crippled fingers softly through my hair and her talking about the “old days”. That is such a wonderful memory for me.

My daughter Deana brought her daughter, Tristin, to Maine a few years ago. One of the things she wanted to do was take Tristin to Belfast Bay. Deana wanted to show Tristin the little tidal pools left on the shoreline when the tide goes out and the little creatures sometimes left in the pools. I did that with Deana when she was maybe five or six years old and it turns out that it was an important memory she wanted to experience with her daughter. Just little things.

Tristin and Blake, my grandkids, were easy to have around. There were no expensive video games but we found all kinds of things to do. One day when they were visiting my neighbor, who had grown his own watermelons, gave me a call. He wanted to tell the kids he had a watermelon for them if they could get it from his house to mine. They must have been five and eight at the time. So they walked two houses up the street to Jim’s. Once up there, here was this huge watermelon. Tristin being the bigger one of the two thought she should lug it home. She couldn’t even pick it off the floor! Blake decided (five years old) that he could do it. Well he got it picked up and Jim caught him and the watermelon before they went over backwards. They finally figured out they could roll it home and they did. The two of them came down the street rolling that thing, laughing hysterically all the way. They got it to my house and up over the front steps and proceeded to roll it around inside. Well needless to say when we finally cut it open the thing was pretty much mush inside. I believe every year when we have bought our first watermelon they still love telling that story (26 and29 years old now). Such a simple pleasure.

I know kids whine and beg and plead for the newest, the latest and greatest whatevers but make sure you build in some simple, no frills, and no expense fun in their lives somewhere. I’ll guarantee you those will be the things they will remember.

I had a laugh when Blake brought over a new girlfriend for their Christmas with me and she saw first hand that it wasn’t exactly conventional. I probably have not told you yet about how I wrap their gifts in aluminum foil and it is usually stuff for their “future” lives. (When they moved out they already had all their kitchen needs even stuff for their own junk drawer!)

That evening they told the girlfriend about Nana’s jewelry boxes. The girlfriend loved ‘bling’ and thankfully she even liked my cheap stuff. Anyway they took her in my bath and introduced her to Nana’s toy box. Those kids used to stay busy for quite a while sorting and organizing my jewelry for me. It’s still a fond memory for them (me too!) and Tristin has been known to borrow a piece or two!

My daughter had “Movie Night” at their house. They would buy or rent a movie or movies, sleeping bags came out, popcorn was popped and they all got comfortable. They have been known to give up an outing with friends for movie night at home.

Seems that the toys, the games, the clothes, etc., are forgotten over the years but they always remember ‘the little things’.

I’m just curious what your memories of “the little things” are.

Contact me at DebbieWalker@townline.org with any questions or comments. Have a great week and thank you for reading.