Monday, October 8, 2012

Her eyes were wide and earnest...

...when she finally quit laughing at me.
 
Our Grandlittle had found it wildly amusing that I was afraid of crickets.
 
"Hey!  You don't like crickets either!" I defended myself to her.
 
Apparently screaming and then sitting on the edge of the table while  waiting for Mr. Jenny to capture the offending (giant) cricket  was quite funny.
 
And perhaps a bit extreme.
 
But it was a GIANT cricket.
 
And those twitchy legs always creep me out.



Shudder.
 
The cricket sighting had interrupted a little conversation the two of us had been having about friends.
 
When I finally settled back into the kitchen chair, after reassuring myself that no other (giant) crickets lurked on the floor around me, my freckled little sweetheart leaned forward to finish our discussion.
 
Her innocent blue eyes were wide and earnest.
 
"Grandma.   My friend, Audrey, knows I am afraid of crickets, too.   When we go outside she walks into the backyard in front of me to scare them away.  I walk in her footsteps."
 
"Oh, that's so sweet, Julia," I told her.
 
"And I know she's afraid of spiders, so when we go into her room, I go in first to scare any spiders away."
 
"Gosh, Julia, that's really sweet, too!"  In the golden light of our evening kitchen, I leaned forward to give her a hug.
 
After hugging me back she added, "Grandma, I am so lucky.  I've never had a friend like that before."



...
 
...
 
I keep thinking about her words.
 
And the joy in her blue eyes.
 
And how rare and wonderful it is to find a friend who will give us their hearts while holding ours safely in return.
 
post signature

22 comments:

Althea said...

Aww that's so lovely, I wish my friends would do that for me! :) x

LLM Calling said...

Oh that's melted my heart, can I just say that I was always waiting through my girlhood for a friend like that.

Unknown said...

I love that she sees you as a friend.

Terra said...

Oh shoot, that is so sweet! One good friend can really make the world an easier place to navigate can't it!

vivian said...

awwww!!! that is soo precious!
wasnt sure where your story was going.. but so glad it went where it did. true friendship is a blessing for sure.
happy monday
xoxo

noexcuses said...

How lucky for her, and how wonderful for you that she shared it with you!

I used to feed live crickets to the lizards we had as pets...yuck! Since they can't hurt, I got over it.

I'm still terrified of spiders to this day!

Beautiful post...lifted me this Monday morning!

21 Wits said...

Wow, you make my heart dance with happiness! So special....lucky you!

The Quintessential Magpie said...

Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful and so very true.

I feel so blessed to have you as a friend.

Love you, Jenny!

XO,

Sheila

Linda @ A La Carte said...

This is so sweet! Love your Grand Littles! hugs, Linda

Dazee Dreamer said...

That is so cool of her friend. I had a jumping spider in my office the other day. scared the, well, you know, out of me. thankfully my fly swatter was handy. because heaven knows, Mr. Dazee wasn't

Ms. A said...

That's the true definition of friend. She's fortunate to find one like that and so are they. My little sister was like that with frogs and would trail my footsteps to make sure it was safe to step.

Pat @ Mille Fiori Favoriti said...

Friendship is the truest gift of all, isn't it, Jenny? Your granddaughter is so sweet!

Anonymous said...

What a heartwarming post! I love photos of children walking away--first signs of independence, what secrets are they sharing, what does the future hold for them?

Barbara Rosenzweig said...

Just beautiful!

So glad that you enjoyed my Cotswold village painting! I'm sorry that I didn't get my act together fast enough to see the post on my new water lily painting porcess.

http://barbararosenzweig.blogspot.com/2012/10/white-water-lily-new-watercolor-painting.html

Anonymous said...

Wow, she's very wise about what a great friend is/does. Lovely post.

Lorrie said...

Such sweetness, and how lucky is she to be learning about true friendship so early in life.

Anonymous said...

Ahh. Damp eyes; warm heart.

H said...

I'm glad your grandlittle has such a great friend :)

Busy Bee Suz said...

So heartwarming....they are both lucky little girls.
XO

Susan Anderson said...

This one made me tear up a little. Such a sweet story, Jenny.

We all need friends like that.

=)

Julie Kwiatkowski Schuler said...

That is so sweet!

Bargain Decorating with Laurie said...

This is beautiful, Jenny. Brought tears to my eyes. Your grand is a very special person to be able to see the beauty in this friendship, and you are such a special grandmother to listen and see the beauty in her words. laurie