Lessons Learned and Lost

If our grandson William could live on only two foods, they'd be Yorkshire puddings and the little meringue "nests" that come in boxes. 

Because it was Thanksgiving dinner we were eating, we didn't have Yorkshire puddings (although I actually considered making them!) but I made sure that I had a good supply of meringues.

Pete was governing his son's meringue intake, which was a good idea, for no one has ever seen him stop eating them of his own accord. I laughed, watching William draw on his considerable negotiating skills and at one point I said, "I think you may have just found a loophole!"

For the second time in as many days, he asked, "What's a loophole?" and Pete and I knew that whatever profound lesson we had hoped to convey the day before, it had been lost on William. 

"Well, at least it was fun to write about;" I thought to myself,  "Humility is a good quality to develop."

It was later in the day when granddaughter Tori whispered to Brenda, "Are we going home soon?" 

Brenda, said, "Don't ask that, it's rude."

Tori's eyes widened as she protested, looking at me, "I was just doing what Omie taught us: 'authentic self representation!'"

Now does that face in the middle look like it needs to learn authentic self representation? She has enough spunk for...anything.

I had explained the concept one day because Tori's sister Tippy, often deferred to others when offered a choice. "Be authentic, don't be afraid to say what you really want or feel," I had urged; "When people ask, it's because they genuinely want to know what you would like." It's a lesson I learned late in life and still have to remind myself of. 

How ironic that those who need a lesson are often the last to learn it and yet it may be etched forever into the heart of the one who least needed it!