Sammy: The Tiny Pistol With A Kick

All grandchildren have their own personalities. Jack is a gentle giant, who experiments with words. It's happened since he was old enough to talk. He'd ask what a word meant, and then he'd spend a week using it. And Jack does jokes. He kept preschool teachers laughing hysterically. They once told me Jack was a three-year-old walking about in a 55 year old body.

Tommy has these organizational issues like I do. He always had a way he liked to design things. One thing that began a series of disagreements with Jack was Tommy's watching Jack move something from where it once was. Sometimes I get the impression Jack did it purposely just to tease. Tommy's passion is sports.

Now Anna was once feisty, but now she's the gentle one. She, like Tommy and Jack, is highly intelligent, but she has a shyness that a person has to understand. Anna knows the answer. You can tell by her grin, but she will never say it. It reminds me of her mom.

No Sammy is an enigma. She makes me laugh, and I love her passion for life. And unlike the other grandchildren, she listens to grandma and Pop Pop driving in traffic or encountering frustration, and the tiny one picked up unsavory vocabulary. It isn't too bad, unless you realize you have a two-year-old running about saying the words "shit" and "damn." Thank goodness grandma's favorite one has not become noticeable.

I love each of them dearly, and they all make me smile. It's been a pleasure to enjoy each one. But most of all, it's a nice feeling to think that they will always remember me.

When Lydia arrived a week ago, I heard Sammy come in the door. "I want my Pop Pop!" The little voice attracted my attention immediately.  It's what makes life worth living. It's what makes life so "damn" good.

What is so fantastic about this picture is how much it reminds me of specific things.

Lydia loves donuts. Sammy does too.

Lydia's cookies are fantastic, so her kids have developed a love for a good chocolate chip cookie, like the one she grips in her hand.

Now the 44 ounce drink is something that is especially funny. Lydia couldn't leave a large fountain drink of Diet Coke on a counter or table. Sammy would find it, whether it required sliding a chair to reach it or not, and then she'd grip it with both hands, and after taking a big sip, she sigh like this: "Aaaahhhhhh!"
Sammy eyes would sparkle like starlight. Mischief would spread across her face.