GRANDPA’S   ART  GALLERY

  

Grandpa had a stroke.

He lost his ability to speak.

Bummer.

 So he had a lot of rehab ahead.

His 5 kids got him a first floor room at Renaissance Nursing Home - just 5 miles away for 4 of his kids - who had stayed in the area.

As to his 23 grandkids - now they were scattered all around the country and all around the world: from Afghanistan to Austin Texas to New Zealand.

Not being able to speak - not being able to write - it was very difficult to understand what grandpa was thinking.

Bummer.

When he tried to speak, when he tried to answer questions from his kids and grandkids - sometimes he would cry in frustration.  His hand would sometimes become a fist as he banged it against his mattress.

This wasn’t their dad. This wasn’t their grandfather.

Down through the years his kids and grandkids liked to ask him questions about what it was like growing up and what have you. Before the stroke he was a great story teller; after the stroke, it was basically silence - as if a great wall went up and all around and surrounded him.

Three months into his time at Renaissance, his kids decided to clean up his house back home It was empty, for the most part. Mom had died years earlier.

In the basement, surprise, surprise, they found in a room boxes and boxes and boxes of drawings - kids drawings.

There were also clay plates made by kids - as well as ceramics - all made by his grandkids.

There were fake flowers. There were stick figures made out of pipe cleaners. There were pictures cut out of magazines.

And most of the crayon and magic marker drawings had the name of kid who drew them or created them.

Grandpa learned that kids love to put their names on the bottom of their drawings.

They brought one of the boxes - filled with kids’ drawings and kids’ writing - and asked him why he had saved all these drawings.

He couldn’t answer.

But each picture got him to smile, laugh - make hand gestures - but nobody knew why he had saved all these creations.

So the boxes went back home and back into the basement.

I would like to be able to report that grandpa got better - but he didn’t.

Grandpa died - and he was to be buried in the local cemetery - next to mom - who had died 10 years earlier.

Luke - a Lieutenant Colonel - and grandpa’s oldest grandson - came back from Afghanistan for the funeral.

He asked if grandpa still had all those drawings he kept down in the basement.

His mom said, “Yes. Do you know about them?”

“Yeah,” said Luke.

“Well, what about them?”

“Oh,” said Luke.

“I once drew grandpa a picture of a purple tree.”

He said, ‘Thank you!’”

“But it didn’t go up on the refrigerator door.”

“In fact, he threw it out.”

“The next time we visited grandpa I asked to see my purple tree. I was quite proud of it.”

“Purple was the only magic marker color I had in my school bag.”

“At that I noticed that Grandpa -  put on this ‘Uh oh!’ face.”

There was silence.

“Then he said, ‘I lost it.’”

He saw that I was disappointed.

“Later, when we were leaving to go back home, grandpa called me over and said, ‘I lied. I’m sorry. I threw out your purple tree.’”

“I didn’t know what to say or to do. I didn’t know grandparents could lie.”

“So I gave him a big hug.”

“Well, about 10 years later, grandpa said to me. “Thank you again for that purple tree you gave me years ago. I learned my lesson. I kept every drawing every one of you grandkids give me.”

The mystery was solved.

Luke then said, “Get plenty of duct tape - plenty of scissors - and get all grandpa’s drawings. We’re going to the funeral parlor.”

That afternoon, that evening, when people went to the funeral parlor - they experienced a celebration of grandpa’s family - all 23 of his grandkids  - and their wives and husbands - and all his friends.

When they walked in - the walls of the funeral parlor were filled with hundreds and hundreds of kids’ drawings and pictures - with their names on it.

It was unique. It was a surprise. It made the newspapers. It got everyone to cry - tears of joy and smiles.

Ooops and one nice part of the story:  every one of those grandkids wanted their childhood drawings.

Great move by Luke, actually:  at the end of all this - nobody had to clean out grandpa’s collection of drawings.

ooooooooooooo

This was a story I wrote for today's kids' Mass. It was for the 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time - A. How this fits in with the readings, it's anyone's guess.