Many of us in this stage think about legacy, hoping to pass on hope, peace, love–you know, the big stuff! It occurred to me this week that what often motivates us, however, is a wish that younger folk like our grandchildren also catch a liking for some little thing we like.
This week, it was flying a kite. Among my fondest memories is kiting with our kids. It was never just about them; I loved the feel of the string in my own hand. It’s hard to describe the experience of a kite out as far as the string will go, dancing and pulling–oh how it tugs, wanting free I suppose–and hanging on because this is as free as it gets, but thank you, for the sense of wind and sky you’re giving me! I remember once when camping, lying on a blanket on my back for a long long time, flying a kite.
At any rate, I was aching for this and wanted to do it with the local grandkids. We bought a cheap kite that only ascended about ten feet and kept diving into my husband’s face when we tried to get it up (because we’d assembled it wrong–oh, the chronicles of aging!), which made me laugh a lot at his expense. A bit more money secured a great butterfly kite with a long tail of baby butterflies and the two youngest grandkids were along for another round and suddenly the wind was right, and there it was, all the way out, waving at us, and the eight-year-old girl was holding it and I was telling her to hang on tight because it was pulling and trying to get away, and I was saying, “Feel it? Isn’t it wonderful?” and she definitely felt it.
Chronicles of Aging 