Covid-19 Joy (3) Grandchildren

One of the uncontested joys of this period has been our relationships with our grandchildren. The past week has brought us instances of tremendous pride in each of them.

The oldest two live within a 45-minute drive of Near Philadelphia and we have had a couple of appropriately social-distanced visits with them. Sam, an aspiring history teacher currently in the 8th grade, received recognition for having the highest grade average in American History. His sister, Caroline, graduated from elementary school with a slew of awards; she tells me she is proudest of one for academic achievement and another for "kindness to all and smiles every day."

Nate and Aberdeen live farthest away, a good 5-to-6 hour drive each way. They have taken up letter-writing and every few weeks the mailman brings an envelope addressed to "Grandmom and Grandpop." Nate is artistic and shared a fabulous, detailed drawing of a ship -- actually an entire beach scene -- in a bottle. And Aberdeen's mom used this time to teach her cursive writing; the letters she sends are in the most beautiful penmanship. This week we had the opportunity to attend a Zoomed recital for harp students and both of them performed.

That brings us to the two masked bandits above. Eli and Miles live about three hours from us, depending on the traffic. They are not heavy penpals, though we've received a piece of mail from each of them. We visit with them on Zoom and get to see the things they construct from their recent infatuation with Legos. Their mom posted this photo on Juneteenth, their last day of "school." It moved me to easy tears to see that at the end of fourth and first grades respectively, they have developed strong social consciences and aren't afraid to say so!