July 30, 2023
Today’s article is from our friend and colleague, Pamela Perkins, who shared this delightful little story with us from a recent visit with her granddaughters. In our Fundamentals course and LifeWays Certificate trainings, we hold classes on Storytelling. One of the simplest and most impactful types of stories that we encourage is ones from our own lives. Sometimes these stories are from our own childhoods or from our child’s younger years. They can also come from our current life- as in Pamela’s story- crafted with a bit of imagination and frivolity.
I love the playfulness that is conveyed through her story, noting a warm and youthful light that resides in Pamela that is shared with her grandchildren. Pamela is an inspiration!
Pamela’s Story
“Nanna, are you feeling okay? You are sitting down a lot today” my little granddaughters asked me.
I smiled at the sweet little faces looking at me with some concern.”Well,” I explained, “when a person gets older, I mean really, really, really old like me, then they have three kinds of days ( and sometimes, all three at once!)”
They are ‘ creakity-weakitty, hobbledy-wobbledy, and tearily-wearily. Today I am hobbledy-wobbledy and my legs are extra tired and kind of wobbly, so I sit down more than usual.
Creakity-weakitty days are ones where I ask you if you would please pick up something that I dropped, or ask for help for something high up, or because I feel, well, creeaaky! ( I make a funny creaking noise, and we all laugh). I might also ask for help carrying something that feels very heavy to me.
And the last ones, tearily-wearily days, are when I am sooo tired, or discouraged or sad or a bit lonely, and on those days, I can use a hug.”
They brightened up , and the older one said, “ So ! Today you are hobbledy-wobbledy, right? You haven’t dropped anything or asked for help carrying anything, so you are not Creakitty-weakitty. ( I nodded ‘yes’ ). And, she concluded, you are all smiles and laughing, so we know you are not ‘tearily-wearily’ !”
“No, I am not,” I replied, “but I LOVE hugs any day!”, and then gathered both of them up into my arms.
********************************
We thank you for stopping by to enjoy this article. If you would like to share your experiences working with children in a LifeWays home or center, please feel free to contact our Blog Coordinator, Acacia Moore at AcaciaWithLifeWays@gmail.com. She would be thrilled to work with you to share your wisdom and experiences on the LifeWays blog.
Learn more about the LifeWays Training Programs here!