Why I feel strangely proud of my granddaughter's mischief
Today, an 'incident' occurred at our front door.
The culprit was my eldest granddaughter who had been visiting. After I dropped her off at her home past 3:00 PM and returned to open my front door, what caught my eye was the remains of my sneaker sandals, which had been miserably (or perhaps passionately) dismantled.
The shoelaces that should have been neatly tied were partially pulled out. As you can see in the photo, it looks as if they had been inspected.
According to my wife, who witnessed the crime, she replied without any sign of guilt: 'I did it because I wanted to surprise Grandpa.'
Why 'happiness' outweighed 'trouble'
Normally, one might sigh at the thought of having to re-thread the laces from scratch. However, faced with this disaster, what welled up inside me was not anger. Instead, I was enveloped in a strange, 'feeling of pride.'
When I analyzed my heart to understand why, I arrived at one answer. It is the fact that she chose me without hesitation as the person to 'surprise'.
The satisfaction of being the 'chosen one'
Such 'mischief' cannot happen without complete trust in the other person. 'It's okay to do this to Grandpa.' 'Grandpa will surely find this funny.'
To her, I am likely not just a scary adult, but recognized as the safest person in the world who will accept her wild ideas in their entirety.
'I must be the only one she does this to.'
The moment I thought that, I felt a deep sense of satisfaction in being 'the one chosen by my granddaughter.' Being chosen as the person she can be most herself with and express her free ideas to felt prouder than receiving any compliment.
A happy time re-threading the shoelaces
Well, I think I will sit down and slowly fix these scattered shoes now. As I thread the laces one by one, imagining her small hands working hard to pull them out seems like it will be a surprisingly happy time.
While savoring the feeling of being the 'chosen one,' I am now immersed in a pleasant afterglow.
*This eldest girl is the one I introduced in the article below who used to call me 'Jii.' Recently, for some reason, she has started calling me 'Grandpa' again.