Talking with our grandson

You hear me talking about our grandkids pretty often. We’re a close family that way. Alex is our second oldest, now 24. He’s been painting houses and staining fences almost since he could walk, and now he’s in College Station caring for homes of names you would recognize.

Lynn and I cherish the moments he and his wife Sophie are able to come north to see family, and this past weekend was one of those. I had set up a visit with Bob Streiff of Precision Pavers of Plano to do a little touch up work on our Pavestone Driveway where roots had lifted a couple of sections, and I invited Alex to meet him. Bob has been a good friend for many years, and I knew he and Alex would hit it off.

I went back in the house once my legs gave out. A few minutes later Alex followed me in. We started visiting about careers and volunteering, work I hoped I could hire him to do here over Christmas, and several other fun things that let me know what a fine young man he has become.

At that point I realized I’d never told him about the special steppingstone my dad and I had made when I was 10. It was beneath the water faucet in our backyard in College Station. We made the frame for it together, and I pressed my hand and my dog’s paw into the fresh cement, then scratched our names and the date before it set.

For years I set my watering can on that stone as I filled it. Then we moved away. I ended up at Ohio State, then teaching in Ohio, then with the Extension Service in Dallas, then doing radio from Dallas.

One day I came into the station and there on my chair was this 80-pound chunk of concrete waiting for me, brought by the kind lady who had lived in the house I grew up in. Her family had moved to Plano, and she knew I would want it. It’s one of my most cherished childhood possessions and I had the chance to show it to Alex.

Perfect timing, and I’ll bet Alex will do something similar. You see, he and Sophie are expecting their first child in early April. They are giddy-happy and completely ready for parenthood. She’ll be our second great-granddaughter, and Lynn and I are really excited for them.

It was a wonderful hour talking to Alex. One of those you never forget. Just like I’ll never forget that hour I spent making this stone with my dad.