Recalling A Silly Game Almost Made Me Cry

I recently made the mistake of telling our four-year-old grandson about a silly, made-up game his dad and his uncle (our sons Brent and Brad) and I loved to play when they were about four and six. We gave it the odd name of "Sweep up the Person!"

To play, I explained, I would pretend to be a giant vacuum cleaner. The child was to guess which "switch" would turn this powerful machine on, that being some body part like my nose, forehead, ear, elbow, knee, etc. When they pushed the right "button", I would rush to pursue the button pusher with a mighty roar and draw him fiercely close in a big squeeze (daughter Joanna, eight years younger, got in on this later).

Our four-year-old grandson loved it, just as my sons had, and nearly wore me out with repeated requests for "More"! "More!" "Again!"

The element of suspense, coupled with the fun of the chase and the joy of being swept up--and wrapped up--in a royally big hug kept us occupied for quite some time.

Which proves that the most entertaining and rewarding things in life often are mostly free, gifts for which we can only say "Thank you!" "Thank you!" "Thank you!"

Then cry later if we must with memories of a former era long gone by.