Background
From my journal of daily musings about the people and situations I encounter in my life.
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March 15, 2016
It's been said that all of history would have been different if G-d had told Abraham to sacrifice his grandson instead of Isaac, who was merely his son.
It seems there's something just this side of magical about the level of devotion between the two generations. They do share a lot: sparse hair, a slower pace, the appreciation of life's simple things, and, most of all, their loyalty to each other. In a grandparent's eyes, their grandchildren can do no wrong, and for grandchildren, the sun rises and sets around Nana and Papa
Today, though, I saw how that could present a problem. The five-year-old brother of one of my piano students is all but conjoined with his grandfather. He worships the man and treats all of his words like gospel.
As the boy was getting on the bus, his grandfather, in the throes of Alzheimer's Disease, shouted to him, "And remember: it's 1928, Owen!" Then he added, "And you need to stop writing the W that's in your name upside down." I saw the proof of Owen's devotion the next week: "Omen, March 15, 1928" read several papers in his big Kindergarten scrawl.
