The Joy of Children

Children are one of God’s greatest blessings to us, as I have been reminded this week. Just last night, I held a tiny baby in my arms – only just over five pounds. Our social worker had her baby last week on December 7. I brought a meal to her and her husband after work yesterday. And you can’t do that and not hold the baby. Ruby Danger is the little one’s name. (Don’t ask about the middle name…) She’s tiny and adorable with a little nose, and little fingers, and little ears, and dark eyes. Beautiful! And I hope to see her lots more since Jane, her mother, is going crazy being stuck in a house and she doesn’t live very far from me. Great excuse, huh?

The after the Christmas cantata at church on Sunday, we had a fellowship of snacks and cookies. After putting food on my plate, I decided to join 5-year-old Andrew who was already snacking away on pizza and clementines.

Pizza, of course, brought up the subject of Chuck-E-Cheeses. He informed me when he grew up he was going to take his younger brother John (who is 3) to Chuck-E-Cheeses. “It’s a lot of fun,” he said, “but they have yucky pizza. Do you think this pizza is from Ci-cis? They have good pizza. I don’t know. I can’t read the box. I’m just learning to read.”

I told him I hadn’t read the box either so I didn’t know, but I asked him if the pizza was good anyhow.

“Yes. We get out of school for Christmas. Do your children?”

“I don’t have any children, but I get off for Christmas, too,” I replied, probably just as excited as he is at the prospect.

This led to a discussion on what he studies in school. Then he fell quiet as he worked the peel off his second clementine. I don’t think he cared for the silence (for knowing his family there probably isn’t much silence in his house), so he turned to the guy next to him and said, “You two can talk now.”

We didn’t have half as many interesting things to talk about as pizza or school, and Andrew soon had more to say. I felt like I was being drilled. What is your favorite food? What is your favorite drink? Would I like to come to his house? When was my birthday? Where was I born? How far is that from Texas? And when he didn’t have anything else to say about the newest Shrek movie, he said, “You can ask me questions now.”

So I did. I asked him about his favorite food, and drink, and color, and birthday. He told me he wished he could have fun birthdays like his older siblings Calvin and Kate. (Mmh…that refrain sounds familiar…) But when I asked him what kind of birthday he wanted, he just shrugged and said, “Oh, one with cake and ice cream.”

Then we got talking about our wiis and the miis we had created. He said his had a red shirt, and brown eyes, and brown hair. “He used to have a mustache, but Kate messed with him.”

“What’s his name?” I asked.

“Andrew.”

“Oh. You named him after yourself.”

“Mama said we had to so she would know what we’re doing.”

Wise mother. Of course, my mii is not named after myself. The one in Texas is named Kaylee.

“Is your name Kaylee?” he asked.

“No. It’s Melissa.”

He seemed to think about this for a moment and then nodded. “Miss Melissa.”

It’s been a while since I’ve been called that! It was wonderfully old and familiar.

I got a break when he went to get dessert. That totaled up to six chocolate cookies.

“Andrew, you won’t eat all that,” the pastor’s wife said.

“Sure I will,” he replied.

“Can I have one?” the guy next to him asked.

“No.”

But when that guy left to get his own dessert, he offered me two. Selective sharing.

It’s been a long time since I’ve had a conversation with a 5-year-old. And how much I miss it! For all the world seems right when you see it through the eyes of a child. No problems, no questions to answer, no future to figure out. And isn’t that the way it should be? As the old saying goes, “God is on His throne. All is well with the world.”