A while ago I spent some time painting one of my granddaughter's bedroom walls. Instead of another gift of toys or books for her birthday we decided to give her parents money to buy paint and then supply the labor to apply it. I have painted a lot of walls over the years. In apartments when I was single. In our first rambling farmhouse home. In our present house; first when we were a young family and again as we repurpose rooms now it’s just the two of us. But painting for the grandchildren is a whole other experience.
It was painting with a constant stream of very interesting chatter supplied by a ten year old. But if you really listen to that constant chatter within it are some heart stopping moments. When we told her the first can of paint was used up and empty she shook her head and said “Oh Grandma! There were so many dreams in that can!” I stopped short. I thought I was just putting paint on a wall. But she had picked out her color carefully, spent time thinking about how it would look and daydreamed about life in her freshly colored room. Of course there were dreams in that can. What could I possibly reply to that?
I thought for a moment and said “Now your dreams are spread out on your walls and are all around you”. She seemed happy with that. And I realized that we weren’t just painting a room. Although that was the original intent of the gift, we had become dream spreaders for a small girl with a big imagination. And if her can of paint could accomplish so much, we all need to grab a few buckets and paint a few walls. The world would be a much better place.
It was painting with a constant stream of very interesting chatter supplied by a ten year old. But if you really listen to that constant chatter within it are some heart stopping moments. When we told her the first can of paint was used up and empty she shook her head and said “Oh Grandma! There were so many dreams in that can!” I stopped short. I thought I was just putting paint on a wall. But she had picked out her color carefully, spent time thinking about how it would look and daydreamed about life in her freshly colored room. Of course there were dreams in that can. What could I possibly reply to that?
I thought for a moment and said “Now your dreams are spread out on your walls and are all around you”. She seemed happy with that. And I realized that we weren’t just painting a room. Although that was the original intent of the gift, we had become dream spreaders for a small girl with a big imagination. And if her can of paint could accomplish so much, we all need to grab a few buckets and paint a few walls. The world would be a much better place.
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