Embrace Every Moment

“Brrrrr”, I shivered as we stepped forward on the crunching snow laid across the sidewalk. It was January 17 and -15 here in Strathroy, Ontario. My sister and I were headed to our Grandma’s house. Our Dad makes sure we spend at least two hours a week with Grandma. Our Grandpa died last year, and ever since Dad and Mom have made sure Grandma gets a “good dose of love” as Mom puts it. My sister, Clara, is thirteen and she is always on me making sure that I am nice to Grandma. Clara thinks that we didn’t spend enough time with Grandpa before he passed so she wants to make sure that every time we are with Grandma we make every second count. I am the middle child, so I don’t necessarily have the best relationship with either of my siblings. My younger brother, Colby, is two years old, so everyone loves him, including Clara. I am nine. I am at the age where nobody really cares about me. Everyone loves Colby because he is adorable and Clara is “a star student that is all grown up” as Aunt Katie likes to put. I am just the one in the middle with nothing special going on. Grandma says she loves everyone equally but I can see how interested she is in Clara’s stories and Colby’s smile. As much as I love Grandma and her candies, going to her house can get really boring so right now I am not in the best mood.

Usually the walk to Grandma’s house is silent and cold but today Clara could tell I wasn’t in a good mood. “Why don’t you like spending time with Grandma?” Clara asked. “It isn’t that I don’t like spending time with Grandma, I just don’t understand why we have to do it so often.” I replied. If I wasn’t currently heading to Grandma’s I would be at Marcus’ house across the street from mine. I love hanging out with Marcus so Grandma’s house was more than a short hangout for me. It was time away from Mario Kart, ping pong and mini sticks. “Ughh.” Clara said, “You really don’t understand, do you.” “What do you mean?” I scoff. “If you pay close attention and really embrace every moment with Grandma, you would see why I enjoy it so much.” Clara stated. I didn’t want to reply. I knew there was no point in arguing with her because she would always think she is right just because she is older. I kicked some snow in front of me and continued down the sidewalk.

I usually love nature. I find that nature calms me if I really focus. I shut my eyes and take a deep breath. Then, I slowly open my eyes. The cold breeze brushes against my cheek. I feel the soft snow land on my shoulders. The snow topped trees ahead soothe my eyes. I almost forget where we are going when “Clara, Caleb!” splits through the silence. It was Grandma. She was sitting out on her porch enjoying the nature. That is the one thing Grandma and I have in common. We both go to nature for relaxation. When I was younger, Grandma and I used to take care of a garden together every summer. We both loved planting flowers while birds chirped in the distance. It wasn’t often Grandma was outside when we came. She was usually inside with a puzzle ready for us to do together. I assumed she forgot we were coming today and followed Clara towards her as she greeted us with hugs.

When Grandma finally finished smothering us with hugs she welcomed us inside. It was darker than usual. I suppose Grandma doesn’t need to turn on the lights in the areas of the house she doesn’t go to. She must usually turn all of the lights on when she knows we are coming. I didn’t say anything, but the house looked like no one lived there. It was making me question just how lonely Grandma was. I snapped out of my thoughts and decided to get a drink. I walked into the kitchen and grabbed a sprite. Even though Grandma doesn’t drink pop she always has it in her fridge for when we are there. I never really thought about how kind that was before. As I walked into the living room, Grandma was quick to ask me how school was going. After Grandpa died, Mom and Dad thought we should move closer to Grandma so we could help her. Clara and I had to switch schools and Grandma feels terrible about it so she is very interested in how things are going. I give her a simple answer, “good” I say. Clara rolls her eyes and starts telling Grandma exactly how school is going.

I walk further into the living room and sit down on the big chestnut brown chair in the corner of the room. Grandpa would always sit in this chair. Every time we came to Grandma and Grandpa’s house, Grandpa was sitting in the exact same chair, so we started calling it Grandpa’s chair. I loved sitting in Grandpa’s chair. It still smelled exactly like him and it was perfectly molded to his body. It even had a cup holder where he used to always put his beer. The chair was very comfortable.

The comfort I felt in Grandpa’s chair helped me see some things I never noticed before. I took a deep breath in and the soft smell of Grandma’s perfume sprinkled across my nose. I slowly looked around. The blue plaid curtains were bright and beautiful. Grandma’s smile was huge with her pink lips spread across her face. After what felt like only minutes had passed Clara said, “Well, we better get going. We have to be back for dinner.” I quickly replied, “What! Already!” Apparently, we had been there for two hours and I hadn’t realized. I got so focused on little things I never realized before, like Grandma’s laughter while we played cards and the sparkle in Grandma’s eye when Clara told her all about school. I gave Grandma a huge hug on the way out. The walk home was even more silent than the walk there. I took the time to think. I decided Clara was right. Grandma’s house is really enjoyable if I pay close attention and embrace every moment. From now on I will pay attention to the little things. If I really focus on Grandma, I can see just how happy Clara makes her. I want to make Grandma that happy too. “Clara,” I say “You were right. From now on, I am going to really pay close attention to the little things and embrace every moment with Grandma. I want to make her happy like you do. I guess if you really try to make something enjoyable and take pride in answering the questions people ask you, anything can be enjoyable.” Instead of replying, Clara pulled me into a huge hug and for once I was very grateful to have Clara as an older sister. I didn’t want to tell Clara this, but I felt like Grandpa was there with me at Grandma’s house. It felt like Grandpa was helping me see the beauty in the moment. I felt like Grandpa wanted me to be happy, sitting there in his chair, spending time with Grandma.

After our long hug, Clara and I continued silently down the sidewalk. Unlike last time, it was joyful silence. The only thing that wasn’t different on the walk home, was it was still freezing cold. “Brrrrr.”