My granddaughter is coming for Easter. This is wonderful on so many levels. First, the energy level ramps up tenfold in the house when she is around. Don’t make any plans for “me” time” unless it directly relates to her. The term whirlwind is an understatement. When you are four and a half there in an unlimited supply of energy and the dirtiest word in your vocabulary is “nap.” (As I get older it’s becoming my favorite word!!!)

She brings something really unique to the table. It revolves around the glow in her eyes and the fact that she really believes in magic. Not the kind of magic you see on infomercials, the kind of magic a four year old believes in. She knows there is an Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus. No, she has never seen them or talked to them. (She has known since age three that the voice on the other end of the phone is not Santa but me) She knows what the rules are and she is happy to abide by them. She will walk into my office count the pictures she drew that hang on my wall, produce one more from behind her back and walk away with the smug satisfaction there will never be room for a Picasso or Monet as long as her art work is hanging there.

She calls just to say hello and there are always lots of giggles and “I love you's.”

She believes in the magic of life. She believes in having fun. There are no deadlines, no bills no worries about economies, healthcare and military involvement in a strange land. She goes to the park and immediately creates relationships with the hundred other kids vying for the slide, swing and monkey bars and they spend about fifteen seconds working everything out and viola the fun begins and doesn’t end until some adult who is tired of sitting on a wooden park bench comes to end it.
She simply believes in magic and it oozes out of her pours every time you talk to her. There is a “what can we do next” look on her face all the time along with high anticipation of fun. Too bad we can’t hold onto that for eternity. The day will come when the mantle of maturity will be thrust upon her and she will be miserable like all the rest of us. She’ll watch CNN and FOX and all those other purveyors of doom and she will grow sad.

Not if I can help it. Next to my wife, my granddaughter has taught me more about life in her short tenure here on this planet than anyone else I know.

I know longer watch the news. If I am going to be upset with someone or a group of someone’s I am going to arrive at that conclusion all on my own. A few weeks ago she sat down with me and gave me one of those “we have to talk.” looks. I had been pulling her braid when she turned her back to me.

“Pappy,” she began. “If you don’t quit doing that, then I am not going to play with you anymore.” She smiled, gave me a hug and turned around again. Case closed. Do what you are supposed to do or I don’t roll with you. I won’t lose any sleep over it and please be quiet I am watching a cartoon and oh yeah I love you.

I watch the weather and the sports scores. I read things that lift me up not weigh me down. I make a conscious effort every single day to find something mystical and magical about my life and the people in it. I am “growing down.”

My granddaughter has taught me to believe in the true power of the beauty of this world and most of the people in it. She causes me to look for magic and fun as I look for health and happiness. She shows me it’s not found in the pages of Fortune, Forbes or The Wall Street Journal, but in a quiet afternoon, drawing with chalk on the sidewalk.

So I take you my dear Sparkies with me today and challenge you to look only for the magic today because it’s been waiting for you to acknowledge it in your life
Big Hug, big grin.

Wanna go play on the swings?