Back in October we learned a neighbor suddenly passed away.
Having recently dealt with loss in his own life,
Grant wanted to let our neighbor's wife know how sad he was for her loss.
So all on his own, Grant found a sympathy card, wrote a note and rode his bicycle to her house to deliver his well wishes. I snapped a picture when Grant was getting ready to deliver his card.
Sometimes life hands us sadness.
But sadness mixed with resilience
creates a beautiful thing called empathy.
Grant is learning to make beauty from ashes.
Isaiah 61.3
To
appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for
ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit
of heaviness;
Grant is also learning to skip school.
Although Thanksgiving gives us a reason to count our blessings, Grant was simply thankful that Thanksgiving falls on Thursday. He hates Thursday because he has elective class every Thursday with his least favorite teacher, Ms. KAISER. She's a sweet person, but Mrs. Kaiser stresses Grant out.
One Thursday early in November I told Grant he could miss school and we would do something fun instead. He was thrilled to miss school on a Thursday but was also concerned about lying to the attendance office.
I told him I was diagnosing him with a severe case of KAISERITIS....a general feeling of unwellness caused by the stress of sitting in Ms. Kaiser's class. He thought that was a satisfactory diagnosis and happily began planning our day's adventures.
We ended up in Cincinnati at a model train museum.
We have visited the museum before and always have a great time.
This time was no different. The day was a lot of fun.
We were surprised to find the museum added a fun zone to the list of things to do. Grant spent an hour playing in some amazing areas of the fun zone. Since he didn't have his sister along, he wasn't brave enough to travel the mazes alone. I tagged along for moral support.
This particular maze was strange.
Every wall in the maze was a curtain made of red and white vinyl strips.
To move through the maze, it was necessary to find the way from one tiny striped room to the next. Sometimes there would be dead ends. Then you would have to retrace your steps to find another route.
There were moments I was certain we were walking in circles, but eventually we found our way out.
The tilt maze was one of Grant's favorite.
The only thing I got from the tilt maze was a
whopping big headache!
I think our aggressive treatment of Grant's medical condition was successful.
By Friday morning,
all symptoms of KAISERITIS were gone.
