It was Thanksgiving day and we had all just finished a lovely meal that my Aunt Linda had made. Evan was dressed in his "My 1st Thanksgiving" shirt and had napped and been fed. We drove to the nursing home where Grandpa has been living since having numerous bouts of pneumonia and other ailments that requires him to have 24-hour care. Evan fell asleep on the drive, shortly before we arrived. When we arrived, not only did we wake Evan up, but we also woke Grandpa from his afternoon nap. I could tell right away that the two would hit it off very well. :)
I took Evan out of his car seat and held him on my lap at first, to help him wake up and give him time to check out the room while we chatted with Grandpa a bit. However, I could tell that Grandpa wasn't in his normal "chatty" mood. All of his attention was focused on Evan; it seemed he didn't want to take his eyes off of him. So I figured it was time to get Evan on Grandpa's lap for some photos and for the two of them to get to know each other.
From the moment I put Evan on Grandpa's lap, Evan's gaze was stuck on his great-grandfather. Likewise, Grandpa sat there looking down at Evan in awe. The two exchanged big grins and Evan held onto Grandpa's thumb, which I think Grandpa enjoyed. Seeing his little hand clasped on the aged hand of my dear grandfather was a vision I will treasure forever. John snapped photos while I helped hold Evan on Grandpa's lap, and we got a four generation photo of Evan, me and Grandpa. The only person missing was my dad, so we'll have to be sure to get another photo when Dad gets back from Africa next year.
Their attention was glued on one another.
Holding hands.
Across four generations.
We visited with Grandpa for about an hour, but soon it was time for him to get ready for his dinner. The nurses were starting to bring the other residents to the cafeteria, and we didn't want Grandpa to miss his meal. I could tell that he wouldn't have minded missing his supper in order to see Evan longer, but we want him to stay healthy and skipping a meal would not be wise. Thus, we had to start saying our good byes, and got Evan packed back up in his car seat. I was sad that our visit had gone so quickly, but overall, my Thanksgiving holiday felt complete. Having my son meet his great-grandfather was something I had been looking forward to for months, and I was so glad that it was such a success. The long road trip with Evan, which had gone incredibly smooth (he slept most of the drive), was worth those precious moments seeing those two special men together.
Evan and Grandpa exchanging good bye glances.
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