Hi Ellie,
The other day when I was getting ready to leave your house,
you asked me to do the ‘I love you’. Of course I said yes as it has been our
little ritual since you were a baby. But the question prompted your little
friend, Kayleigh, who was playing with you at the time to ask, “How do you do an I Love You?” Oh
Ellie, with a quick wink to you, I told Kayleigh that both you and I would be
happy to show her. And your return
smile, which spoke volumes, told us both just how special it was! And at that moment I also realized how
important it was to blog about our customized ‘goodbye.’
Final Thought: The
overwhelming affection you feel for someone can be expressed deeply and
effectively without ever having to voice the words.
Ellie, I am not sure as to the exact timeframe we started
this goodbye ritual, but what I do know is that it has strongly solidified our
grandmother/granddaughter connection.
When you and your Mommy would leave my house to return to yours via car,
I always wanted to give you an extra special goodbye. So after getting you buckled into your car seat and giving
you a kiss on your forehead I would close the car door and use hand gestures
that go with the words I – Love – You
before walking away. First, I
would point to my eyes referencing the word ‘I’. Next, I would take my pointer fingers and thumbs from both
hands and fashion them in the shape of a heart near my own to reference the
word ‘Love.’ Lastly, I would ball
up my left fist extending only the pointer finger, which of course pointed
directly at you to reference the word ‘You.’ Then I would blow you a kiss, wave good-bye and re-enter my
house thinking how did someone so tiny capture my heart with the magnitude that
you did so easily? But I didn’t
really need an answer, I already knew!
So now I will fast-forward to today when you are 4 ½ years
old and yes, we still do this crazy and wonderful ritual. But let me tell you Ellie that you have
fine-tuned it and with precision thought I might add (or rather fine-tuned me
to do it exactly your way). Here is how we do the ‘I Love You’
today. First of all, it is no
longer restricted to when you are in your car seat leaving me… you have now
added our special goodbye to my leaving you! So whether I am standing outside of the car looking in at
you or you standing outside of my car with me inside seat belted and ready to
drive off, this is how we now do the ‘I Love You.’
Oh, and before I continue on I need to tell you that when
you are in your Mommy’s car all windows must be rolled up and your Mommy’s car
door must be shut! I am strongly
guessing that you want to make sure that your Mama is not able to take any of
my attention away that should be solely focused on you (yes, you two do fight
at times over whom I should be listening too). Anyway… first I make a ‘V’ shape letter with the pointer
finger and middle finger on my left hand and point it first at my eyes then at
your eyes and then back to mine so that I have both yours and my attention when
referencing the word ‘I’. Next I
make the heart shape, with no added quirks, to reference the word ‘Love’ just
like before. Then I point to you,
again no added quirks here either, to reference the word ‘You.’ Now comes a slight change up as I have
to blow you not one, but three kisses and follow them with a couple of selfie
hugs. “Selfie hugs?” You or someone reading this might
ask. Let me remind you of how they
are performed. First you take your
left arm and wrap it around your right shoulder. Then you take your right arm and wrap it around your left
shoulder. Next you squeeze
yourself just like you would a teddy bear if you wanted it to pop its stuffing
out and follow that with shaking your upper body from side to side like you
would a ragdoll! Thennnnnnnnnnnn….
I have to repeat this whole procedure again only this time switch my arm
wraps! If you think this is the
end of our ‘goodbye’ ritual Ellie, think again. I must then perform two more complete cycles of the arm-wrap
with an added crazy facial expression each time. Oh and heaven forbid if I accidentally do any portion of
this ‘goodbye’ out of order because then I have to start all over again from
the very beginning (and yes El, I have had to start over many times! Obviously OSD and/or quirkiness run in
our family as I can name a few other relatives with similar issues)! I guess it always makes for some fun
stories!
But back to our ‘goodbye’ ritual… Ellie, you have had me do
this in driveways, the church parking lot, department store lots and even the
ice-cream lot. I am sure people
who don’t know us but watch this crazy routine are probably thinking just
that…. Crazy lady! But you know
what I realized Ellie?... that I treasure this unique Ellie/Mimi habit that
belongs to only us. Your friend
Kayleigh made me see just how special it is El. And I pray this bond of ours never grows old.
Eye Heart U!
Mimi
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