Martin celebrated his 75th birthday a couple of weeks ago. Elliot and his family came in as did Martin’s sister. It was a great weekend hanging out at home, playing in the snow, playing dress up with the girls.. We were all sad to say goodbye. A couple of days later our son called to Face Time. “Leah wants to see your house,” he said. She piped up from the background, “I want to see your kitchen. Where is Grandpa?” Actually, “Where is Grandpa?” was likely the first question.
So began our impromptu FTHT — Face Time House Tour. Kitchen first where I reminded Leah that she and her sister had finger painted at the kitchen counter during their visit. Then on to the living room, stopping for a bit of art education. I showed her a floral still life passed down from my grandfather to my mother and then to me. Painted by A. S. Baylinson, a Russian artist who was fairly renowned in his day, I pointed out the red and yellow flowers; we played find the circles. After the livingroom we headed upstairs to the room she and her sister usually sleep in. Leah wanted to hear the music box that isn’t really a music box but a painted china figurine of Beatrix Potter’s Jemima Puddleduck. We also needed to wind up the Rabbit Mother rocking her bunnies to sleep.
Returning to the kitchen at the end of the tour, Leah said, “I miss you, Aviva. “I come to your house soon?” “Yes, Sweetheart,” I replied. “You’ll come to my house soon.” Oh how a brief FTHT leaves tiny footprints upon the tour guide’s heart.
photos courtesy of Debra Darvick
photo credit:
Sometimes when I have a hard time falling asleep. I take a similar tour as your FaceTime tour for your granddaughter. I got to the gig old house on Main Street in my home town on the Mississippi River in southern Minnesota. I start at the front steps and go through I big front porch, then the living room through the living room to the kitten. I go back to the beautiful stair case to the upstairs where my dads office was and their bedrooms and mine. There was a large wooden balcony with a rickety railings round it and I was a little afraid to go in it. I try to recall every detail, the names of the books in the living rooms book case, the contents of all the kitchen cupboards, the closets, the cabinets in the basement landing . I never have been able to “do” the whole big house where I was the only child. . I get stopped by a recalled memory of something I ”saw” in the coat closet, or the pressure cooker on the stove.
I fall peacefully asleep every time after the tour!
I LOVE this, Claire. Thank you so much for sharing it with me
and my readers.
How wonderful, Debra!!! I feel it all in my heart! Moments of wonder and gratitude for these precious gifts!