Ninjasaurus Rex

It was a dark and stormy night, and the monstrous wind rumbled to itself, high in the clouds, crabby about the cold, and wondering what mischief it could do ...

Down below, way down there, it saw a house among the trees and thought to itself, I can go roar around that house and scare people.  

Hahaaaaaa and away it blew, down, down to where people lived and trees grew.  It swayed the trees crazily this way and that, and leaves swirled wildly, and in the house ... mom and dad and Ruby (like the precious gem) huddled at the front window, staring outside.  The noise from the wind was huge, and the house creaked, and it was sort of scary for them, until suddenly ...

Suddenly, out of it's deep, dark cave sprang their defender, the ferocious Ninjasaurus Rex!  It's eyes were sharply focused on the front window and on the wind that blew.  "Woof," it declared mightily to the surging wind, which is a lot like, "Hey!" in ninjasaurus language.  "Woof, woof!"  

Outside the house, the furious wind heard the terrifying sound, and fear filled up its very insides.  Suddenly, the wind's strength was gone, and it squiggled back up to the clouds where it hid and whimpered.  Never had it been so scared ever, ever before.  

The family and their ninjasaurus snuggle together and watch as the calm settles wonderfully all around them, and then they go to bed, except Ninja stayed up to keep watch for awhile.

Later, Ruby told Grampa about the cool things that Ninja, their little dog, did. 

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And because every story has a lesson, what's Ninja's lesson for us?  It's that we're a family, and we watch out for each other and help when it's needed.  😄 And friends, too.  Family and friends do that for each other.  And for others who need help, too; good people and good dogs do that.  

She was supposed to be sleeping ...

She was supposed to be sleeping ... but there was this nice elephant with a balloon ... maybe she was dreaming.  It's hard to tell, sometimes.

So she asked herself, "Should I not be riding an elephant?" ... and herself didn't seem to be worried about it, so away they went.

Pfrump ...   ...   ...  pfurump ...   ...  the slow, rolly foot sounds of the big elephant were pretty much the only noises.  The soft breeze blew silently, and the moon just floated along, and off in the distance she could see the hills and trees and maybe some snow on the mountaintops.  She quietly asked him his name, and he said it was Elijah, Elijah Elephant, and they decided right away they'd be friends.  They talked as they went along about things they liked like flowers and trees and swimming and dancing.  She hadn't known about elephants dancing before.

So, slowly they went along the trail, and the huge valley was so quiet and almost magical.  Oh, and every now and then, a star would twinkle and it sounded like a little jingle bell when it did it.  After many pfrumpy steps, she put her head down on top of the gentle elephant's head and closed her eyes.  His head was warm and comfy, and he was humming a quiet song for her.

She slept, perhaps, and dreamed she was back home with mom and dad and they were asleep, so in her dream, she ran into their room and jumped on their bed and told them about her elephant friend, and they all went outside to see if he was still there.

And he was.  He was there playing with a lot of his friends, and all the neighbors were out with them doing morning elephant bath stuff and laughing a lot.  So she took her mom and dad and joined in.  She scrubbed Elijah's feet and great big toes and scratched his back and tickled his nose and thanked him for the ride.  

Mom and Dad chatted with Elijah about happiness and about going slow, and they made plans to meet again soon.  Then she took her mom and dad and went back home and back to bed because it wasn't time to get up yet.

And because there's always a hidden lesson in such stories ... 

"I think I like elephants a lot," she thought as she drifted off to sleep.  And trees, and being outside, and in quiet places, and twinkley stars.  It's funny how being out with a friend and enjoying things slowly lets you relax and see good things.  Like peace and gentleness and friendship and love.  She liked all of that, and slept happily until time for school.
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For Ruby, because she understands all that stuff. 💚
Love,
Grandpa

Everything good about life ...

I've loooong wondered about it,
the old man explained.
  There's treasure to be found,
   it's somewhere around,
    maybe under the ground,
so we'll find it.

It's maybe mostly money, many think,
as they struggle to gather it in,
   to collect in a pile
     and to live in grand style,
        but after a while,
it just stinks.

Peaceful pathways, people patiently pursue,
and what is their priceless find?
   The best part is time 
     spent with family and friends,
       or adventures to the ends . . .
of the world!  . . .
Money's myths mysteriously fall through . . .

The treasure, they find,
 is to be loving and kind.
     It's helping, and hearing,
       and caring, and living
         a life full of giving.
That's life at its best, all combined . . .
 for mankind.
    and womankind.
         and doggie-kind.
                 and birdie-kind.
                         and runny babbits and other furry-kind.

         And for teachers; they're usually kind, too.

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"Tell us the grandest most wonderful life truth," said someone in the crowd to the teacher.  

Without hesitation, he answered. "With everything in you and every moment of your life, you can live in the love of your father in heaven and know his heart," he told them, "and the second most wonderful is just like it ... you can love each other just like you love yourself.  Every good thing about life begins there."

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For Ruby Marie, learning and growing so wonderfully well.  
I love you dearly,
Grampa

Wealth and Wisdom

Once upon a time ... except this story is mostly true ... 

So there was this sad young leader who wondered why everybody else was having fun and he wasn't.  He was rich, and most everybody else wasn't, and he'd thought being rich would be better, but for some reason, he just wasn't happy.

As he sat by the window, high up in his really fancy house, he watched everybody else smiling as they came and went about their day.  They'd greet each other cheerfully and talk about things they were doing.  Lots of times, they'd go off together to help each other on this project or that.  Sometimes they did really hard work, and still they smiled and were happy.

So one day, this teacher was talking to folks about how to be truly happy, and crowds gathered to hear him talk and ask questions.  The rich young leader decided he'd go hear what this teacher had to say; maybe he knew a secret.

Down the stairs and through the grand rooms and out through the huge doors he went.  Down the road to the spot where the teacher and all the gathered people were sitting and talking ... the rich young leader just barged into the middle of things and asked, "Teacher, what do I need to do to have a happy life like these folks have?"

The teacher looked right into his eyes, and after a moment, he told him, "You should go and sell everything you have and give it to people who need help, and then come follow along with us.  Then you'll have a happy life."  
        oooOooooooh, there was such a hush across the crowd as the words settled on them all.  The rich young leader didn't know what to say.  In his head, he saw all the fancy stuff he had and his treasure in boxes in the basement, and he just couldn't bring himself to give up his fancy life.  Without saying anything at all, he turned away sadly and went back home.

Out at the edge of the crowd, a really old fellow commented to his really old wife, "Wealth is like strawberries, sort of.  If you have more than you can eat, they just get mushy and make a mess in your house.  It's more fun if you give them away, and other people get to eat, too."  The really old wife smiled.  They'd learned a long time ago that giving is better than having, and that helping others was really the best part of a happy life.

A little girl overheard their conversation and remembered her friend who really likes strawberries, so she got up and went to gather some.  While she picked the strawberries, she ate some and saved some for her friend, and she smiled, thinking of how happy George and maybe Levi would be when she came with strawberries.
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So wealth is only a problem if wisdom fails.  Too much wealth is like too many strawberries in the kitchen; it's just stupid, especially if you can give them away to somebody who doesn't have any strawberries.

For my smart granddaughter who knows wisdom is important.  It's how you tell good from bad.

When Grampa was little

'Twas oh so many years ago
   in village down by the sea,
   that among the old rocks lived a little old crab
   by the name of Fiddle de Dee.
The whole of his heart for all of his days
   was to play in the sand and the sea.

He was an old crab and I a brave lad,
  and the years between us were many,
Yet our time there was grand,
   as we walked in the sand
   with Mum and others, or not any.

Dee was a fiddler; not a good one, it seems,
  eerk eearp was his best refrain.
Mum winced when he played
  and grimaced and swayed
  to the sound like the wreck of a train.

Then one day, through the mist and the haze,
   a pirate ship did appear.
It was pointy in front 
   and tall in the middle,
   and shaped rather round in the rear.

Dee swam to the ship,
   gave the lookout the slip,
   and climbed up the mast to the nest.
"Tis a good life for me,"
   said Fiddle de Dee,
   now a pirate, just like the rest.

Time passed, and more,
  and Dee missed the shore
  and the sand and the waves at his feet.
Still, a pirate was he, with a high perch to see.
It was nice, if you want to explore.

Then suddenly before
  came a glimpse of a shore.
Dee saw it first, and cried out,
"Land Ho!" (more like "land ho.",
  because crabs can't talk very loud.)

          "I shall not leave this land unexplored,"
            yelled Fiddle de Dee to the waves.
          So alone, o'r the side, 
            to swim with the tide,
            leapt he with a 'shout', so brave.

Dee reached the shore
  where we'd sat before,
  and he glared rolly-eyed at me.
"I haven't seen you since morning," I said,
  "and it's nearly quarter to three."
"Perhaps for chips and asparagus tips,
    you'd come share Mum's tea with me."

"But of course I shall.  I've got stories to tell,
   of all the wonders I saw."
"And I've conquered this land
   by my own hand,"
Dee proclaimed while waving his 'claw'.

So passed the day, and we laughed at the way
   it all seemed so wonderfully free.
Two friends could piddle
   and imagine and fiddle
   in the sand and the surf by the sea.

The end.

Oh, yes, the hidden lesson.  
Just because they're little and crabby doesn't mean they don't have some good stories to tell.

(For my imaginative granddaughter whom I admire so much for her courage.)

One Little Angel

Among all the angels, there was this one little one named Chrysanthea ... who patiently waited her turn, as you're supposed to do if you're polite ...

While she waited her turn, she enjoyed the night sky and all the stars.  She especially liked stars because they twinkled and they were bright and probably smart.

Then the day came ... Chrysanthea was called down from the sky to talk with the archangel Michael.  That was a little intimidating because he was pretty tall and famous, and he had been doing important stuff for a long time, so she was a little shy as she presented herself at his office.  The staff of angels welcomed her warmly and escorted her into where Michael was.  He smiled cheerfully when he saw her and introduced her around.

Chrysanthea, this is Arthur.  He will lead your group and show you what to do since this is your first time doing angel work.  Chrysanthea shook Arthur's hand and noticed he was big and pretty strong, but he smiled, too, so that was nice.

Introductions continued with Chrysanthea meeting Brindur and Zanthus, rounding out the team.  Arthur gathered them together to tell them what was ahead for them.

There's a precious young girl with a beautiful heart who was born in the Spring, and her name is Ruby.  She was born near the forest and not far from the river, and everyone was there to celebrate her arrival.  Her mom, of course, and her dad, and her grandparents, and they waited for hours and hours and hours, till she finally arrived and smiled at them all.  She was very small to start, like baby-size, but she grew a little every day.

Well, it turns out her Grammy, who loves her dearly, prays for her every day.  "Father, watch over my precious granddaughter.  Keep her safe and healthy and happy."  So Grammy's request got forwarded to Archangel Michael, and he put together a team of angels including Chrysanthea to watch over Ruby.

Grandmothers do that, it seems.  Grampa's grandmother prayed for him and Grammy all the time, and Ruby's great-grandmothers pray for her, and there's lots of stories over the years.

So the years go by, and with the other angels, Chrysanthea watches over Ruby, and defends her in difficult times, and now there's even more stories.

And because there's always a hidden meaning, for such a story, ...
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Precious Ruby, your Grammy prays for you every day, and so does your Grandpa.
And there's much more to the story, of course.  😍

Five Forest Faries

In the dark woods, a little ways back from the road, there were these five fairies, all named Charlotte.  At least that's what I heard.  There was thumb-sized Charlotte and pinky-sized Charlotte, and the rest were regular finger-sized fairies.  They were all really nice, especially pinky Charlotte.

It was winter, and it was cold, and the fairies played in the snow sometimes; but not on the ground.  They flew around chasing the snowflakes that fell from the sky, and they laughed and sparkled a lot.

It was almost Christmas when the fairies heard this little girl laughing.  They flew to the edge of the forest, and there was this little girl, laughing and running around and looking for clues of a heffalump in the neighborhood.  She had a bag with lots of clues, but the best clue was too big to fit in the bag.  It was a heffalump foot print right there on the road and it was huge!

The little girl ran home with her bag of clues to tell her mommy and daddy about the heffalump, and the fairies flew along behind her, but she didn't see them.  At the house, they hovered at the front window while the little girl ran inside and around the room squealing, "I found footprints from a heffalump!  And ... I found all these clues!"

Mom and Dad had never ever seen a heffalump in person, but they really enjoyed the story their little girl told, and they looked through all the clues together.  Outside the living room window, the five forest fairies hovered like little hummingbirds and giggled along with the little girl.

Thumb-sized Charlotte said wistfully, "She's really nice," as she enjoyed watching the little heffalump hunter; "and she'd be fun to play with, I'll bet."  Pinky Charlotte lit up with big eyes and a smile and exclaimed, "we should move near to where she lives so she could visit us.  We could be neighbors and friends!"  The regular-sized Charlottes all agreed and suggested they invite George the granoladon to move with them.  George and all the Charlottes were the very best of friends.

Well it turns out that the night before Christmas, George and all the Charlottes packed up their houses and frogs and moved next to where the little girl lived.  Then on Christmas morning ... they sprang out of a Christmas box!  "Surprise, surprise!  Merry, merry, merry merry Christmas!"  And with their tiny voices, they sang Silent Night and Away in a Manger for their new friend.

The five forest fairies stayed and watched over their little friend for all the years of her childhood, and even when she was older, she remembered the story of Christmas they had shared with her; peace on earth, good will to men. And women.  And children.  And granoladons.