Yesterday was “May the Fourth Be With You Day,” which meant I had to choose which of my five Star Wars shirts to wear. We watched the new Simpsons/Star Wars short, and I ended my day with a Star Wars-themed stand-up show on RushTix, hosted by Brian Posehn.
He was talking about his toys, which made me think about all the ones I had as a kid, which made me remember a time when I bought my son a few.
Christmas was coming, and I found myself in the bargain bin at Toys R Us, in an attempt to provide a good holiday on a single-mom budget. The year before, Star Wars toys had been big, which meant they were relegated to the bin this year. I bought several ships for us to put together.
Christmas was spent with my extended family.
On Christmas night, my son and I were on the floor next to my grandfather’s chair, attaching wings, figuring out which stickers went where.
My grandfather said, “You’re being a good mom.”
I was surprised for a few reasons. First, my grandfather was a man of few words; praise was rare.
Second, putting toys together didn’t seem like anything special to me. It wasn’t staying up with him all night when he got sick, making his favorite dinner even though I would have to stay up even later to finish my paper, not murdering him when he wouldn’t let me even go to the bathroom by myself, no matter how much I begged . . .
Still, I treasure this rare moment of acknowledgment. I hope it gave my grandfather some pleasure to watch the little girl he raised play with his great-grandson.
