Grand Kids

Grand kids, three to be exact, are truly a wonder, at least at a young age. And all of mine (ours) are of a young age – 6, 5, and 4.5 months.

The one in the middle recently captured my heart – again. Her name is Rheya which I believe is my name unconsciously modified by her mother (our daughter). Just imagine if you will, a horizontal bar connecting the “I” and the “l” in Riley and you have a backwards (flipped horizontally) “h” when turned around makes a normal “h” then add an “a” to feminize it and you have “Rheya” …

Okay, I know it’s a stretch and Rheya’s mother denies it, but she would have to do so, wouldn’t she? Could she really admit our first granddaughter is named after her grandfather and not her grandmother?

More to the point, all of “our grandchildren are a crown to us as we age” (Proverbs 16:6 paraphrased). How is this so and how did Rheya recently capture my heart again?

It was during a ladies day out – Sharon (my bride), Jennifer (our daughter), and Rheya (our granddaughter). Sharon and Jennifer set up a surprise meeting between Rheya and Grandmother which Rheya liked, but would rather have known so she could plan on the meeting … sounded like she wanted the joy of anticipation to me.

After the surprise was over as well as lunch, it was over to half price books – a favorite of all three ladies. There Rheya got another surprise – a half price books gift certificate from grandmother.

Then Rheya surprised everyone by insisting on buying grandfather (me) a chess book. Side note, everyone in the family knows I have a serious fondness (love?) of this ancient board game. Anyway, grandmother accompanied her to the shelf with the chess books and as they looked through them explained that grandfather actually already had all of those there.

So what was Rheya to do now? Well, while I don’t know how it came about, she ended up buying me a small very nice journal or diary.

For some reason this really touched me and I felt blessed after I opened the self-addressed package from Rheya for Grandpa – see picture of same below.

I am a man blessed in so many ways, but this blessing, this gift of love from Rheya, I shall carry with me to heaven.