A Grandparent’s day at the park (standard:Inspirational stories, 898 words)
Author: Godspenman	Added: Mar 25 2012	Views/Reads: 3121/1931	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Fun is a relative quantity. One person's fun may be somebody else's drudgery and pain. I know someone, and her name shall remain anonymous, whose idea of fun is rooting through thrift stores all day long. That concept of fun has never darkened the shadowy

Fun is a relative quantity. One person's fun may be somebody else's
drudgery and pain. I know someone, and her name shall remain anonymous, 
whose idea of fun is rooting through thrift stores all day long. That 
concept of fun has never darkened the shadowy corridors of my mind. 

The idea of spending time in the park has to be amended to include one
very important ingredient. On my own, I probably would not even think 
of going to the park. Not that I do not like the park, I just would not 
come up with the idea all by myself. 

Then, the important equation of fun is a little granddaughter. 

A day at the park by myself does not equal to very much fun. After all,
I have talked to myself and I am rather boring. I have heard all my 
stories before and by the time, I tell myself the story for the 19th 
time it is no longer funny. 

A day at the park with the granddaughter does equal fun. 

I think grandchildren are God's way of reminding grandfathers how much
energy we do not have and, for that matter, never had. 

The date was set and my wife and I set off to take our little
granddaughter to the park. On the main features of this park was a 
merry-go-round. I am rather certain they had merry-go-round when I was 
a child but for the life of me, I cannot remember the last time I took 
a spin. 

As we set out for our destination in the park, I nonchalantly told the
little granddaughter that there was a merry-go-round in the park. That 
was the end of my talk for the trip. The whole way there, all she could 
talk about was the merry-go-round and how fast it went in how many 
ponies there were. By the time we got to the merry-go-round I had 
learned about all there is to know about a merry-go-round from a 
six-year-old's viewpoint. 

According to her, the merry-go-round is about the most fun you could
ever have in the whole wide world. And, she emphasized, "I'm serious." 

We rounded the corner, before us was the park and in the middle of the
park was this mysterious, mystical merry-go-round. It elicited a deep 
heartfelt "Wow," from the younger member of our walking troop. 

She immediately began running and pulling me along to the point where I
had to walk a little faster than I normally walk. I mean, at my age 
running is completely out of the question. And so, she ran, I shuffled 
enthusiastically and before long we were in front of the 
merry-go-round. 

"Isn't it beautiful, grandpa," she almost whispered. 

We did not stand long admiring the merry-go-round. She let out a squeal
and said, "Come on, grandpa. Let's go ride the merry-go-round." 

My plans were very simple. I would let her get on the merry-go-round,
pay for the ticket, sit down on the bench and watch her go round and 
round and round. Well, that was my plan. She, on the other hand, had 
other plans. 

With almost superhuman force she drug me pass the admission gate, I
hardly had enough time to pay for the ride and to the pony she was 
going to ride. 

"This is my pony, grandpa. Where's yours?" 

I quickly searched my plans and could nowhere find any notation about
riding a pony on a merry-go-round on this particular day. Instead, I 
helped her up on her pony and I stood by her and said, "We'll do this 
one together." She was too excited about riding the merry-go-round that 
she did not respond. 

I grabbed hold of one part of the pony, right next to us was another
pony and I held onto that. 

"Are we ready to go, grandpa?" 


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