He turned five in September and his favorite toys ever are a collection of basters given him by his other grandmother and me.
Yes, that’s right. I said basters – as in those brushes you use to coat chickens while they roast.
Basters.
He’s got about a dozen of them – every color, every length, some of them even possessing bodies, looking for all the world like strangely hirsute aliens from another dimension.
This whole thing began when he was about two and came to our house for a visit. We had just remodeled our kitchen and I loved the bright colors we had chosen to use in our new kitchen/dining/area/living room – all of them coming from some new-to-us Fiesta dinnerware I had discovered.
Clear yellow, clear turquoise, a vibrant lime-almost-chartreuse green, and a soft, true blue. I had just purchased ceramic utensil holders for my newly installed countertops, and sticking out of one of them was an extra long baster with a bright blue brush.
Griffin spotted it the moment he walked in the door and claimed that thing as his own special friend, so much so that “Rusty” went home with him at the end of that visit. And it just sort of grew from there.
This is a boy with a great, God-given imagination. This is a boy with a real flair for the dramatic. This is a boy who is the only true extrovert in our entire extended family. He wanders down the aisle at church during the pass-the-peace time, just to see who he can greet each Sunday – and he’s only five.
So, give him a handful of basters and he’ll have at it. He can create an entire world of characters, complete with names and interesting dialog. He can cry real tears if one of them is left out or left behind. He can imagine a family for each one, including a friendly pet or two.
And he will invite you into this world if you’re willing to go there – for a moment or an hour.
We’re spending a couple of days with Griffin this week because his spring break dates did not match either of his brothers or either of his special-ed teacher parents. He’s the youngest of our six grandsons, almost the exact age of our older granddaughter and he is a great companion and playmate.
So we’ve had a grand time hanging out with this boy who reminds us that life is precious, that beauty is in the eye of the beholder (basters?? who knew??), that God breathes unique life into each and every one of us human creatures, that imagination is a gift from our creative and beautiful God, and that life is meant to be lived with joy and gratitude.
Joining up with Laura’s blog for the first time this week…
Basters…I love it. My kids’ favorite toys aren’t toys at all, but kitchen items, tools from my husband’s workbench, gardening tools, etc. Why buy toys when you have basters?
A lovely post…
Oh that I would live one day like your grandson, imagining the world a better place by using basters. What a heart-warming post that renewed my desire to smile. Thank you for sharing from your world.
My family has a new member, a two-year-old great nephew named Stephen. We relish every delightful, and brilliant (to us anyway) action he does. Mostly, he reminds us to love the simple pleasures of life.
Thanks, friends, for your kind words. It’s interesting and kinda fun to be a rank beginner at something (like blogging for real) in these early months of retirement. Sure do love both of your blogs – one becoming an old friend and one a brand new one. Appreciate your taking the time to come by.
I love Griffin! What an imagination! Isn’t it amazing what our wee ones will come up with if we encourage them? This just makes me smile.
And thank you for your encouraging words over at the Wellspring. The Lay Pastor program has been challenging, but just wonderful. It’s good to know I have some friends to turn to if I ever need some ministry advice!