OPINION SHAPER: Trip with grandkids opened elders' eyes
Just like the mythical family in the "Vacation" movies, my wife and I decided to take an old-fashioned family road trip.
Decide for yourself what you think about the idea, but when Nancy and I pulled into our driveway after this 3,931-mile excursion, we looked at each other and smiled. It was the trip of a lifetime.Imagine the "Family Truckster," in our case a minivan, filled with Nancy and I, our 34-year-old daughter Tressa, her two sons - 3-year-old James and 3-month-old Caleb - and, rounding out the last two empty seats, my oldest son's two children, 10-year-old Cameron and 8-year-old Charlee, who is my only granddaughter.
Add to the mix two car seats, luggage for seven, assorted snacks, books, games, pillows, blankets, drinks and anything else such a diverse menagerie might need, and there you have it, Bill and Nancy's traveling road show.
Pleasantly surprising, though, going places and seeing and experiencing them through the eyes of our grandchildren led Nancy and I to this inescapable conclusion: We adults have a lot we could learn from the simple joys of a child.
Witnessing the awe in their faces touring the Chattanooga, Tenn., aquarium and watching the 3-D show at their IMAX theater, or hearing the squeals of delight when we boarded the Tennessee Valley Railroad old-fashioned steam engine train were experiences made special by their reactions.
Later that night, after riding more miles, during our picnic supper on the lawn at Stone Mountain in Atlanta we soaked up the excitement of the 25th anniversary of the laser light show performed there in the park.
Then leaving Atlanta the next morning we made our way to Florida to spend a week at N. Redington Beach with the rest of our family that came to meet us at a resort. After this week-long respite from the road, we loaded the ol' Truckster again and headed for the Naval Air Museum in Pensacola, Fla.
This is where our grandchildren began teaching their lessons in earnest. Viewing the fantastic display of 150 airplanes was interesting, but seeing our grandson James, as he settled into a Blue Angels jet plane cockpit, was instruction at its best. He reminded us of the art of unpretentious joy.
He wasn't concerned about anything but the moment. At 3 years of age he had become the youngest Blue Angels pilot ever, and as he made his flight through the air, twisting and turning at supersonic speeds, all he needed to make it happen was a boost up a ladder, the imagination of a child and the ability to surrender to unpretentious joy.
My oldest grandson, Cameron, re-introduced me to the concept of wonderment when at his insistence we took the audio tour of the Alamo during our stop in San Antonio. We followed the taped instructions to each station within the Alamo and listened with interest to all of the information. The look of wonderment in the face of my grandson as the recorded voice informed us we were now standing on the very ground defended by Davy Crockett himself, was as refreshing as it was priceless.
Pulling into our last stop, the parking lot of the Laura Ingalls Wilder home and museum in Mansfield, Mo., the reaction of my 8-year-old granddaughter Charlee reiterated the principles of respect and appreciation.
"The Little House on the Prairie" and the other books written by her favorite author were penned in longhand, at the very desk she was looking at, right in the house where we were standing. I experienced the awe etched upon Charlee's face as she toured this house, and could feel she respected, appreciated and enjoyed what happened there.
What began as a road trip designed to expose our grandkids to new places, people and things became a lesson. A lesson for Nancy and me in the long-forgotten art of seeing and experiencing things, and appreciating them through the eyes of a child.
Eat your heart out Clark Griswald. You never had it this good.
Bill Fearn of St. Peters is a supermarket journeyman meatcutter. He is one of 21 Opinion Shaper columnists for the Suburban Journals of St. Charles County. Opinion Shapers are chosen annually to write five columns on topics of interest to them.
