“Did your parents not teach you that patience is a …” I pause, my eyes moving toward the ceiling. “What the hell is that phrase?
“Patience is a verb?” I squint. “No, that doesn’t make any damn sense. Patience is a last stitch effort?”
I shake my head.
“Makes even less sense, Joel,” I mutter while pouring out a few of the grapes I’d already cut up for Amelia onto one section of her plate.
In the largest section of the plate, I place some turkey and cheese slices, while putting a few peas onto the third section.
I carry Amelia to her highchair, which is just beside my desk, and buckle her in before placing her plate in front of her. As soon as it’s there, she grabs a slice of the turkey and starts sucking on it.
“Slow down. It’s not running away from ya,” I gripe, but she just gives me the gummiest smile.
A chuckle bubbles up and out of my mouth as I watch her, drooling and all over her lunch.
“Mind if I join ya?” I ask while placing my plate of a peanut butter sandwich and grapes on my desk.
She grabs a handful of peas this time.
“Didn’t think so. What should we watch today?” I ask as if I don’t know. I pull up YouTube and go to Ms. Rachel’s channel.
“You want to learn to count today?” I ask while clicking on the play button.
The thirty minute video of Ms. Rachel teaching toddlers to count keeps my grandbaby enraptured. I find myself tapping my foot along and mumbling some of the lyrics like I’m the one who needs to learn to count.
The half an hour goes by quickly with Amelia laughing and even trying to count along.
“You’ve made a mess with those peas,” I tease her while I pull her out of her highchair. After grabbing one of the wipes I keep on my desk, I wipe her mouth and hands down.
“That’s better.”
“What else we got here to watch?” I move my cursor around the YouTube page but one of the recommended videos catches my eye.
It’s fromMz. Ellyn’schannel. As in my next-door neighbor, Ellyn.
Yes, after she told me she was a Youtuber, I may have gone back home and snooped around on YouTube a little to find her channel. To say I was surprised to find she has over a million followers would be an understatement.
“How to rock your grey hair,” I mumble, reading the title of the video.
“You’ll need to learn how to style your grey hair one day,” I say to Amelia. “This might help you.”
I click on the video.
Ellyn, dressed in a white sweater and sleek, wide-leg, black pants with her hair in curls that reach her shoulder, starts the video off with a question.
“Can I tell you all a secret?”
“Yes,” I answer.
“Yeth!” Amelia repeats, then giggles up at me.
“I once was ashamed that I was going grey.” She stands back from the camera, hands on her hips, posing for a second before she tosses her hair over her shoulder.
“Can you believe that?”
“Hell, no!” I declare.
“No!”
