Now,
Gilliam wasn’t the only son of mine getting a healthy dose of daddy-time during
my two weeks in Atlanta.
However,
with Grayson in school most of the day I had to be a little bit more creative
with our time together, especially for just the two of us.
I’m a
younger brother, so I have no idea what it is like to be an older sibling,
however, I know this… big brothers, more times than not, have to share their
time with their siblings. And this is
certainly true with Grayson. Getting one
on one time is few and far between.
So, I
made a point of giving Grayson his own special moments. Simple as they may seem… they were very
special.
After
school one day I took Gray to play mini-golf for the first time. We had been meaning to play for months. We tried to find a course in Miami and
Washington, DC, however, we could never seem to find one conveniently located,
especially without having a car at our disposal. So, finally, in Atlanta, we had a chance to
play 18 holes.
One day
Gray mentioned he had a bunch of Xbox games he didn’t want anymore and he
really wanted to get a new game we could play together. So, I told him to pull all of his games out
and choose the ones he didn’t want any more… once he did, I took him to Game
Stop and told him I would add $10 to how ever much Game Stop would pay him for
his old games. In the end we had enough
for Lego Pirates of the Caribbean, which was the game Gray really wanted. And then we went home and spent the rest of
the afternoon playing.
Now,
one of the more enjoyable things we did together, for both Grayson and me, was
actually during school. I joined him for
lunch. His school is huge and they
actually have special tables outside of the noisy lunch room for families. It was really great and we had so much fun. And I especially enjoyed Gray’s thought on
his new school: “Dad, this school is
nothing like Suriname International School”.
This
made me laugh. “Yeah… I know… your class
here is almost larger than the entire student body of SIS.”
The
most impressive thing about my visit was how the school handles lunch
money. Back when I was in school we had
to buy lunch tickets and we were responsible for keeping them safe and not
losing them. If you did lose them… you
went without lunch. However, at
Grayson’s school, parents send money directly to the teacher, who deposits it
in a digital lunch account. And after
Grayson picks out his lunch and goes to the cashier, he simply types in a
five-digit number into a keypad, unique to him, which automatically deducts
money from his account.
I don’t
know what I thought was cooler. The
accounts the lunch room used for payment or the fact that Grayson knew his
lunch number without having to think about it.
Honestly, I don’t know if I could have memorized a five-digit number
when I was only six and a half.
Grayson
actually knew I was coming the first time I came for lunch… however; the second
time I showed up was a surprise. And
when his class appeared marching down the hall single file, and he saw me
standing there waiting for him outside the lunch room, Grayson lit up. Staying in line he just smiled at me. And when he caught up with me he gave me a
hug and said, “Dad! You didn’t tell me
you were coming today!”
Me: “I
know, I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it.
Gilliam and I were running some errands, but we got home in time for me to
run up here and have lunch with you.”
Gray: “Thanks Dad.”
And yet
again, we enjoyed 20 minutes together at the family table. This time I had Grayson in stitches telling
him about taking Gilliam for a haircut that morning… which explained why I was
covered in hair… and itchy… but I’ll save that story for my next post.
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