Carol Perkins: Grandparents' Camp

"Watching the cousins discover each other was worth a winning lottery ticket," Carol Perkins writes of the house full of fun when four grandchildren visited the Perkins home at one time

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To read her next previous story click on At the Funeral Home

By Carol Perkins

"Grandparents' Camp"

I was gone one hour. Sixty minutes. That's all. In that time I had my hair fixed and went to the grocery to buy food for supper. When I got home, you would have thought I had been gone all day.

"Don't you ever leave me alone with them again. I can't handle it. I admit it. They were all over the place," Guy said pitifully as he met me at the door shaking his head.


" Luke had a major meltdown because his new Transformer kept tearing up and I had to snap a piece back into place ten times. In the meantime, Eme filled a plastic bowl with water and dumped it in her play sink after spilling half of it all over the carpet. She was going to wash her doll's hair...in the middle of the den. In addition, Fluffy pooped on the carpet. I can't do this by myself."

It is nice to be needed.

Let me back up. For a few days we had our children and grandchildren together for the first time in a year. The noise, the mess, the talking, the crying, and the eating together around the table was priceless. We couldn't walk without stepping on a toy or a plastic sippy cup. One time I stepped on top of Beth's computer.

We had a houseful of fun

Jon and Beth have Luke (5), Eme (3) and Noah (9 months). Carla and Mark have Joseph ( 2 1/2). Our step-grandchildren, who are 16 and 14, couldn't come that weekend. We had a house full of fun.

Watching the cousins discover each other was worth a winning lottery ticket.

One of the most spontaneous times happened while I was in the kitchen cooking. "Come outside, you've got to see this," Guy yelled from the door. A hard rain always creates a small pond about a foot deep in our side yard. Eme took off as fast as her little legs would carry her and waded right in, followed by Luke and Joseph. All the time that I was thinking about what disease they might catch. "It's rain water, for heaven's sake," Guy said. I relaxed.

Another was when I gave Luke the water hose and ask him to water my flowers and bushes while the little ones were in the kiddie pool. I wasn't thinking about what else he would water until he walked up no more than three feet from me and let me have it. Then he went after his sister and cousin Joseph. I chased him around trying to get the hose and he sprayed me more. Guy and Jon laughed until they bent double. Their laughter reenforced Luke's fun. I looked like I had walked through a car wash. He knew with that hose he had the power.

Everyone left on Monday except Luke and Eme who, for the first time, stayed in Kentucky without their parents. Eme and I have baked brownies and banana nut bread. Luke and Guy have put up a tent and a tireswing. Luke couldn't wait to go through boxes of toys left over from when his dad was a boy, searching for his transformers. By the way, I have told hundreds of stories about transformers and princesses, and Guy, who can't tell a story to save his life, has read books.

We saw 'Kung Fu Panda'

We saw "Kung Fu Panda" and when I fell asleep Luke said loud enough for everyone to hear, "Wake up, Cici." I must have been snoring. Eme wore the hide off Guy's chest climbing up and down during the movie (it was more of a boy movie).

We have toured Wal-Mart,walked to the creek and visited Mema (my mom) and Uncle Henry who danced to the ABC song until he couldn't catch his breath. I have taken them to see their great-great aunts and uncles and the farm we all loved during our own youth. "See that barn," I said was we drove out the road to Uncle Russell's. "I used to play in that barn when I was a little girl."

They have sat on Uncle Bob's old red tractor, swung on tree limbs, thrown rocks in the pond and dug holes in the yard and filled them with water from the hose (yes, I gave it back). They have played and played and played.

What will Guy and I do with ourselves when they are gone?

Speaking of Guy, I never left him alone with them after that hour. Imagine a man who served in the Navy for three years but couldn't keep up with two kids for an hour.

Thank goodness God gave child rearing, for the most part, to women or there would have been no children.

This story was posted on 2009-07-05 09:14:36