mothersong

Yesterday I was feeling particularly sad and afraid about Dad's situation as I drove home from a rehearsal. I listened to cheesy country tunes and cried the whole way home (one of my favorite releases). When I got to the house and wiped my eyes and came inside, Andy told me about something amazing Luka had said while I was gone. They had been looking up at the pictures of Dad on the wall, above which sits the postcard he wrote to us on the day of his accident. It is a picture of Christchurch with the mountains behind it, and Andy explained to Luka that those were mountains and when Luka said where is Pops, Andy said, in the mountains. After this, a little while later, Luka was looking at the pictures and said out of nowhere "I'm grateful" in his little voice. Andy had never heard him say that before, and though he knows the words "thank you" he has never said grateful, nor do we say it very often to him yet. It's just not something you'd expect a 21 month old to grasp . . . but Andy asked him to clarify it a couple of times and, surprised, he finally asked Luka "What are you grateful for?" To which Luka replied "I'm grateful for Pops in the mountains." In other words, grateful for his grandfather. Andy was still in disbelief and asked Luka what other things he was grateful for, and Luka said "basketball, muffins, etc. . . "
When Andy told me this story as I arrived, I was overwhelmed with gratitude myself for this simple and true message, and it reminded me exactly of something Dad would say, especially whenever someone is afraid about death. I wondered if Dad had ever talked to Luka about being grateful, and I remembered one of Dad's favorite pep talks about having an "attitude of gratitude". I thought you all might enjoy this story.