Remember that game? My sister and I loved to play that game when we were children growing up in Grand Rapids, Michigan in the 50s.
One day, we roped our Dad into playing the game. He got to start.
"I spy something...that is ALL colors!"
What?" we both hollered at once. "How can that be?"
"Well, I'm looking at it now and I see all the colors in the world," he said.
Laura and I started looking around the living room. Brown carpet, red couch, tan chairs, wooden table, very chic gray walls, tan drapes with small blocks of gray, black, and white (very 50s modern), BUT NOTHING with all the colors!
So we did what most little girls would have done. We started arguing with him!
"Are you sure, Daddy? There's nothing in this world that has all the colors! What if someone invented a new color?"
"That color would be there," Dad assured us.
We scoffed. How was this possible? We kept looking for a while and pestering Dad for clues or hints or SOMETHING that would head us in the right direction. But we couldn't figure it out.
And typical Daddy, he would simply NOT tell us! No matter how much we whined, or stomped our feet, or challenged him. He wouldn't tell us the answer! He never would. We knew that. We'd seen it again and again. So we eventually wandered off to get ready for bed.
Suddenly my sister yelped! And went barging out of our bedroom, back into the living room.
"I've got it!" she yelled at the top of her lungs. I slowly followed behind her, not really wanting her to have the answer because she was the younger girl and shouldn't I be the one to figure it out?
"It's a MIRROR!" she said, with all the drama a seven-year-old could muster.
Dad smiled. "You're right!" he said. "Good job!"
I couldn't bring myself to congratulate her. I was jealous, to put it mildly. I had wanted to be the one to get it first. Why did she have to be such a SmartyPants!
*********************************************
So why do I share this story on my Be Mindful of Your Ancestors Blog? Take a look at these photos:
 |
| My Great Grandmother |
 |
| My Grandfather |
 |
| My Father |
 | ||
| Me where it all happened |
What you're looking at is a long chain of people who have all done the same thing with their children! They've all challenged their children to think, to question, to ponder the puzzles of the world, and they haven't given them the answers. They've just planted the seeds in their fertile minds and let ideas grow.
In editing one of my father's poems, I've recently discovered that my Grandfather did this same thing with my Father, too. That's what made me think of the I SPY GAME we once played with him.
When I told Dad the story, he allowed as how his father is where he got this concept and that perhaps his father was raised the same way, because he remembers his grandmother, Janett doing the same thing with him.
I have certainly raised my own children with this idea of asking but not answering questions. I'm sure they remember this from their childhood, fondly, I hope, as I now do. (I'm actually proud of Laura, now!)
And, I suspect I will soon have to add another couple of photos to this chain of family questioners.
You guessed it!
 |
| Sarah with her father, Warren, also a good questioner |
 | ||||
| My Grandson, Danny |
I am proud to be part of such a fun family tradition! And I hope to see it moving forward down through a few more generations.
