Well that took me back a few years. My daughter has managed to have her artwork accepted at Nottingham Castle Annual Open, so tonight was the artists’ reception evening where they get to view the exhibition for the first time. Although her art degree focussed upon her painting skills she’s currently developing her drawings, which are seriously impressive and she teaches an evening class based at Loughborough University. Art was always a big part of Jane’s life as well and she was able to have her work accepted in the Derby Open on several occasions. She was offered a place at Goldsmiths, London for her Art Psychotherapy M.A. which was quite an achievement, but despite the temptation she felt led to remain in Derby for that course. Subsequent ill-health with major operations and other cancer treatment would have made studying in London impossible. But she did gain her qualification eventually which was a major achievement considering she left school at age 15 and waited another 25 years before returning to study. I used to really enjoy the several visits a year to London purely to visit art exhibitions… I can’t quite get my head around doing that trip on my own though I’m sure I will, but it’ll be strange not engaging in the perennial debate “is that really art?” before asking one another “which was your favourite work?”
Anyway this evening I’m child-minding in Loughborough of course and it was the Milly-Molly-Mandy story book I had to read to my grand-daughter at bed-time that took me back through the years. My 3 year old grand-son’s another story… he wanted to take a 2 foot long stick to bed with him. I wasn’t sure what mum would say about that so I texted her, only to have the response that it’s not always a stick… the other day he went to bed with a rock! I don’t think I’m in tune with this generation. But then the real challenge came with my 5 year old grand-daughter after saying prayers with her. She has a wonderful childish innocence and has an impressive list of the sick that she prays for each night. One of the young children she prays for has had her own cancer battle and it was nice to hear that she doesn’t need praying for anymore because she’s got better. The subject of her Nanna dying and going to heaven was raised – not by me – and we talked of that for a few minutes and how one day we would go to live with her. I was then stunned to hear my grand-daughter say, in a quite matter of fact way that she was going to die whilst she was still a child. How do you deal with that then? I told her that she was wrong and that she would live to be a very,very old lady with her own grand-children. But then she came out with a really sad story of a teacher who was quite upset, and had shared that one day she’d woken up and gone to wake her own child and that child had died in their sleep. I said we should pray for the teacher. And I’m praying for my grand-daughter who in her own short life has had several emergency hospital visits with night-time breathing problems. I believe she’s now grown out of that problem fortunately, though her younger brother has had a couple of related incidents. But she obviously hasn’t forgotten.
Child-minding… how hard can that be?
Deuteronomy 28:1,4 ‘You must completely obey the Lord your God - (Then) - Your children will be blessed’ (NCV)
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