By Kathy Jandric, mother of three, grandmother of 6

It was about 4:30 in the evening on a wintry December day and the temperature was 4 degrees. Often when it gets this cold in Minnesota, we want to stay home, put some soup on the stove and keep warm. I had started a fire in the fireplace which was now roaring and snapping. I had been wrapping gifts for Christmas, baking cookies, cleaning and I was exhausted from a long week at work.

On this night, I had the company of my six year old grandchild, who turned to me and said, “Grandma? Can we go sledding on Killer Hill?” Killer hill is where his mother and her sisters used to go sliding when they were kids. I wasn’t sure if I had the energy, but then I remembered how quickly the time went by with my own children. I smiled and said, “I think that is a fabulous idea! Let’s go!” It’s no secret that kids don’t get outside like they used to. I think that unstructured fun is a good thing and it was a huge opportunity to create a memory of a lifetime for both of us.

Off we went down the street to the top of the hill. It was dark, the moon and stars were twinkling and the lights from the nearby mall were bright. The air was crisp and the quiet night was completely still, there was no sound with the exception of each step, which made a crunching sound in the snow.

“Sit in the middle of the sled, hold on to the sides and keep your feet inside”, I said.  Next, I gave a little push and off he went. The whole way down he was shouting at the top of his lungs with a yell so strong that started in the pit of his stomach, went to the top of his lungs and made the ground tremble. It lasted all the way to the bottom of the hill.

Like most young boys his age, he has this fascination for trains. He had recently watched the movie The Polar Express which is about a train ride that some kids take to the magical North Pole. He was yelling lines from the movie all the way down that hill. Clearly he was imagining he was the engine speeding its way to meet Santa. The third time down, he actually laid down on his back in the sled. On the way back up his smiling face was red. You could see his breath as he shouted over and over, “This is the most fun I have ever had in my whole entire life!”

In that moment every problem I had slipped away. A still quiet peace flooded my entire body starting at my heart and stayed with me. As I reveled in the moment a new energy transformed me. I wasn’t tired anymore.

“‘This,” I said to myself; “is as good as it gets, this is the best of life, and this is what it is all about.” I will treasure that moment forever.

Please share moments about times your children or grandchildren have recharged your energy…………..

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 at 8:42 pm and is filed under Community Board. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.