It all started in the afternoon of November 2nd, 2009. It was a Monday. Grandma and I were visiting grandchildren in the wide open spaces of Utah, in the western part of the United States. Somehow the topic of ‘Elbows’ came up as I was having fun with the grandchildren. Then, without warning, the beginning of a poem started to pop into my brain. I said it out loud, and soon, the little “poem seed” grew as the children suggested new parts to add. It was great fun! The unplanned poem went home with me, and I finished it over the next several months. I call it TOPIC #1... the first poem I remember writing.
Saturday, September 20th, 2014 was
the day it happened again... in the same place, with an even larger assembly of
grandchildren. Walking across a parking lot I noticed that a horse was kept
just on the other side of a wire fence. My eyes spotted a bridle... on the
ground...in... the... dirt. YIKES! My mind quickly worked out a plan to fix this
BIG PROBLEM.
I thought “I will take Anakha-Marie (12 years
old) over to the front door and ask the people living there if we could help
them by washing the bridle and bring it
right back to them”. With that plan in mind, I
looked at Anakha-Marie, and what came out of my mouth was a great
surprise... it was a poem... about a Cowboy!
At that very moment, TOPIC #2 happened
with no warning at all!
Anakha-Marie said “WoW!! Write that down!!!”.
So, being obedient to women with authority, I jotted it down on the way to her
home, and then handed it over with this teasing exclamation, “OK... here is
what you asked for.. It’s all your fault. This never
happens to me unless I am around you guys!” Anakha-Marie was not startled at
all, but calmly looked up at me and said matter-of-factly “No Grandpa. It is
not OUR FAULT... all you need is a TOPIC.” She then placed her index finger on
her chin, looked up in the air and said, just like Mrs. Griggs, my sixth grade
teacher giving an assignment; “COOKIES!”
She handed me a blank piece of paper and said “Go For It!”.
I was STUNNED! Write a poem on demand? A poem about Cookies? This was going to be impossible. My brain was
afraid, but I sat down, wrote COOKIES at the top of the paper and then.. TOPIC #3 happened.
As soon as “COOKIES” was on the paper, the lines of the poem started
flowing and I wrote as fast as I could to keep up so as to not miss
anything. I then read the completed poem
and was very surprised indeed. Perhaps it was true... all I needed was a topic!
After returning home, I shared TOPIC #2 and TOPIC #3 with some
children at church. Before I could escape, I saw index fingers on their chins,
and TOPIC #4, TOPIC
#5 and TOPIC #6 were assigned to me. As before, I
wrote the topic at the top, and each poem flowed out as quickly as ever. This same process has now happened so many
times in the last few weeks that I just received (and wrote) TOPIC #24 #47..
I will ever be amazed at the inspiration I
receive from my wonderful grandchildren, and other children I have had the good
fortune to meet around the world. I thank each one of you for helping me, and
my brain, overcome the fear of sitting down and writing about my assigned topic.
I invite each child, each parent and each
grandparent to spend some together, give each other topics, write what pops
into your brains, and share stories about your families. It all starts with a topic,
and with the courage to write down what comes to mind.
Please keep me up to date on your adventures!
Grandpa
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