——————————————

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE AT THE UPPER RIGHT.

IT’S FREE!

You will ONLY receive notifications when I post new entries to my blog.

——————————————

Positive Polarity

A couple weeks ago Annie and I hosted four of our grandchildren while their parents enjoyed a little time together in Jamaica.  Our son and daughter-in-law had an incredibly good time.  Annie and I did too…but we were constantly reminded how very old we are getting.

——————————————

The alarm clock at the cabin is a technological marvel.  It can be set to alert me at two different times.  I guess one is to wake me and the other is to tell me…uh…I don’t really know what that one is for…whatever I want I guess.  The process of setting it is not exactly intuitive; you know, like on and off?  There are so many settings and procedures with the accompanying controls that I frequently have to consult the owner’s manual if I want to change or set something.

You have to click one button multiple times to set the time you want the alarm to sound off, and for whether the alarm is a radio station or a buzzer, and for whether the alarm is on or off.  Also, if you hit the snooze button the alarm is silent for five minutes, but you can set that length of time too. 

I NEVER intentionally hit the snooze.  If I get awakened by ANYTHING I can’t get back to sleep so the snooze is unnecessary.  Unfortunately for me, some engineer decided to make the snooze button the largest button on the clock and to design the button for silencing the alarm comparatively small and tucked in an obscure corner so that at 4 a.m. I have to fumble around in the darkness to find it.  Needless to say, I usually hit the snooze button first.  At that point the workings of the clock will not let me silence the alarm until the five minutes of snooze time runs out and the alarm sounds off again.

You think I hate that, ask Annie what she thinks of being awakened every five minutes until I hit the right button, when she doesn’t want to get up that early anyway.

Yes, I could unplug the clock, but then I have to go through all the multiple steps to re-set the time and all the alarms until I get it right.  Not the best option…but sometimes I do it anyway.

It continues going off every morning in the still of the night even after deer season ends until I figure out the right way to turn it off.

My first impulse after the alarm goes off a couple times when I am NOT planning on going hunting is to throw the clock against the wall.

Just sayin’.

——————————————

I told you all that to tell you this. 

The alarm woke me early the first morning we were at the cabin with our grandkids.  Of course I thought it was my fault.  I cursed myself silently for my stupidity in leaving it set, then turned it off.  The alarm woke Annie too but she can usually fall right back to sleep so she didn’t get mad at me.  The grands sleep more soundly but they did stir and whimper, so I’m glad the alarm didn’t sound off again in five minutes.

It did go off the next day but that time it was in the middle of the day and was set for radio.  Since it was tuned in between the few stations we can receive down in our valley it hissed a sound that momentarily had both Annie and myself wracking our brains to figure out whether we had a bad leak in our plumbing or if something electrical was shorting out and in the process of setting the cabin on fire.

I relaxed when I realized it was just the radio and not something more serious, so I turned the alarm off and tried to figure out how in the world I had reset the alarm time and turned it back on the previous night.  I had to blame my stupidity and aging brain and hope I didn’t do something that dumb again.

All was revealed to me the next day when I walked into the bedroom to find three-year-old Izzie playing with the controls on the clock.

Needless to say I wasn’t happy and told my adorable granddaughter that her behavior was not acceptable and that she mustn’t do it again.

She didn’t.  For the rest of that visit I didn’t see any evidence that she messed with the controls on the clock again.

However, two weeks after they went home I made the trip back to the cabin.  As soon as I walked into the cabin I noticed a strange and unpleasant odor coming from the kitchen.  A quick olfactory search led me to the refrigerator which I opened to be met with the distinct bouquet of rotting meat, milk, frozen french-fries, and…other stuff. 

The light had come on when I opened the door so it wasn’t unplugged.  As I checked around I found that the refrigerator’s thermostat had been turned all the way off.  Yeah, ALL the way off.

Izzie again?  I have to admit she is a likely suspect.

——————————————

The day I caught Izzie playing with the alarm clock eleven-year-old Emma had come immediately to her sister’s rescue.  She had confronted me for, “yelling” at her little sister, explaining that it wasn’t the best way to teach her and that I should have given her a time out instead.

Hmmm.

——————————————

Izzie’s twin brother Carson has a reputation among his siblings for being “different.”  While they were visiting us he did behave differently than the others.  He spent a lot of time alone, playing with toy trucks and tractors, but with more intensity than most kids I’ve known.  He didn’t make a lot of noise or emit motor sounds, but seemed to be studying the wheels and any other moving parts the toy might have.  He watched how they moved and was perfectly happy playing alone while the others were interacting.

Yeah, “different.”

——————————————

John, the eight-year-old brother, never stopping, always busy, or wanting to be busy.  “Let’s do this.” Or, “Can we do that?”

There was never a break with him around.

Some might think it was miserable for two old people to try to keep up with those four distinctive personalities.

They’d be wrong.

——————————————

Busy Izzie was just that, busy.  She was always moving, exploring, experimenting.  Yes, she messed up my alarm clock, but that was only temporary.  I have it all straightened out and working right again…I think.  Yes, she cost us nearly $100 in spoiled and wasted food, but she didn’t destroy the refrigerator or even pull off and lose the knob.

What she did do was show us what an intelligent, inquisitive young lady she is.  With the proper encouragement, motivation, and the correct kind of discipline, she could definitely turn out to be an electronics genius.

Emma showed what an empathetic big sister she is.  I could see the potential for her to go into children’s services like her grandpa.  She could be tremendous help to kids who have had a tough upbringing.

In addition to what I said earlier Carson was not the least bit reticent to get involved in other activities besides just studying the toys.  He frequently asked me what I was doing and was eager to help me with whatever, at least within the abilities and attention span of a three-year-old.  He showed promise with his desire to study the workings of mechanical objects.  If he keeps his motivation to learn how mechanical things interact, he could turn out to be a mechanical engineer, like his uncle J.B.

Eight-year-old John was sometimes challenging since his energy level was many times that of his grandparents.  However, he was nearly always eager to step in to help with whatever project I undertook.  His sharp eye and quick brain made him invaluable.  The energy?  The kid never got tired of helping me, even when the other kids lost interest and went on to other things.

He could use his energy and work ethic to become anything he wants to.  Right now he wants to be a high-voltage electrician, like his dad. 

Yeah, he could do that.

——————————————

So, you see, even though Annie and I got frustrated with our grandkids a time or two, we don’t see most of their actions as horrible in the grand scheme of things.  Yes, they needed to be corrected at times, but they didn’t need to be discouraged from their underlying motivations.  They just needed to be encouraged to turn them in a more positive direction.

So you see the polarity.  As good parents, grandparents, etc. that’s what we do, see the negative and try to find a way to turn it into a positive.  It’s not always easy, but it’s always worth it. 

That shouldn’t come as a shock to anybody.

——————————————

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE AT THE UPPER RIGHT. IT’S FREE!

You will ONLY receive notifications when I post new entries to my blog.

Go to the top of the right hand column where it says, “SUBSCRIBE TO BLOG VIA EMAIL”.  Fill in your email and hit the “Subscribe” button.  You will receive a verification email.  Please confirm that you want to subscribe by clicking, “Confirm Follow” and you will be set!  Thanks!

It doesn’t seem to work from a cell phone, only a computer.  I don’t know why.  Sorry.  If there’s a problem, send me your email address and I’ll sign you up.

——————————————