Grandson Lessons - Perseverance

I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know my youngest grandson over the first year of his life. He has taught me many things during this time—one being perseverance. Since it has been well over three decades since our own kids were this age, I’ve had a chance to re-experience the learning abilities of a baby. We have a one step rise between our living room and the kitchen. When our grandson started crawling, he would bump up against this obstacle and stop. Over time he began experimenting with putting his hands up and eventually a leg. Then he would plop back down to the lower level. He kept at it and then got his whole body up. He finally could do this consistently, but he couldn’t figure out how to get down again. The whole process repeated and through perseverance, he learned how to turn around and back down the step. We are now going through the same determination on learning how to walk.

I’m reminded of a statement from the classical guitarist Andres Segovia who was asked when he was in his eighties why he still practiced three hours a day. His response, “I’m beginning to notice a little improvement.”

Grandson Lessons - Problem of a Limited Point of View

Over the last year I have watched our grandson progress from lying in one position to moving around on his back, turning over, sitting up, crawling, standing and taking his first steps. His world has changed from seeing everything from only one point of view—looking up from his back to seeing things from different levels and being able to interact with his environment.

How many of us get locked into looking at the world only one way? Learning entails exploring, trying different viewpoints and interacting. A good lesson for me.

What I Learned from My Grandson

The last year has been a whirlwind. We moved from Boulder, CO, to Lakewood, CA, and our grandson was born. He recently had his first birthday—a time to reflect over his first year. My wife and I were in the delivery room, and I have seen him almost every day since. When our daughter went back to work after her maternity leave, we became primary child care during the week. Rather than a burden, this turned out to be a joy. As I mentioned to my wife, I know my grandson better at this age than I did any of our three kids at this age because I was working full time when our kids were born and now I’m retired.

So what have I learned this last year? Plenty. I hope I have helped our grandson develop, but what follows are some of the lessons he has taught me.

Value of a Smile

Our grandson has a huge smile. Sure he has his grumpy moments, but most times when he wakes up from a nap or greats us at the door, he gives us a grandparent-heart-warming smile. And he isn’t faking it. He’s a happy kid who likes to share his happiness. He has taught me that greeting life with a smile is preferable to being a grump.

 

New Books Arrive

It’s always exciting for me when copies of my latest published novel arrive. This happened last week with Court Trouble: A Platform Tennis Mystery.

In Court Trouble Mark Yeager is retired from his stressful career as an entrepreneur and now gets his adrenaline fix from games of platform tennis with a motley crew of equally middle-aged buddies. But when one of his good friends is bludgeoned to death in the dark on one of the platform tennis courts, Mark takes it personally: Manny Grimes had likely saved Mark’s life by insisting he see a doctor for what turned out to be prostate cancer. Mark decides he must identify the killer, even if it means another close encounter of the Grim Reaper kind.

“This solid series launch from Befeler introduces an unlikely amateur sleuth, platform tennis buff Mark Yeager. . . . Readers will look forward to seeing more of this determined tennis enthusiast and cancer survivor.” —Publishers Weekly