Emily’s Date (And A Few Things From My Perspective)

(If you are reading this, get a cup of tea and cozy into your recliner for the ride, this is my way of memorializing where the grandkids are in life on my blog for the future.)

My date with Emily was filled with a lot of discussion involving about 3,000 different topics such as what her favorite ride at Disneyland was last month, whether or not fairies and vampires are real, and that if something is “real,” you have to be able to see/touch/hear it or it’s not real, and much more! That should lend to some interesting discussions down the road about whether or not God and the Bible are real. She believes it 100% for now on faith, but she may be a questioner with her scientific-minded thinking. That's not all bad because I believe that she’ll have a strong faith because of it in the end, even if she questions everything

Anyone who spends time with Emily knows that she can carry on a continuous monologue with endless topics. It’s easy to “tune her out” at times because her tongue moves with the speed of her brain and you can trust me when I say, her brain moves very fast! I especially love spending time alone with her because I am able to actually listen to everything she says (okay, maybe I can listen to about 95% because I do have to pay attention when I’m driving). It’s interesting because occasionally I have to break into her monologue to ask her a question about something totally different and she stops, listens, answers me, then continues right on where she left off. Amazing! I would have forgotten what topic I was on if I had to take a break in the conversation, lol!!

Emily loves/likes everyone she meets and believes that everyone will love/like her back. She is the friend to those who get ignored, and she will approach the new person at school or church and make sure they are welcome and tell them they can sit with her. She doesn’t often see other’s shortcomings, whether or not they are popular, heavy or skinny, etc. To her, they are simply someone to be friends with and I really love that about her!

When I get these opportunities alone with her, I am able to listen and actually “hear” her and I get snippets of things that make her happy, and sometimes I hear about things that are actually bothering her. Emily is a hibernator by nature - give her a book, a computer and some quiet time and you may never see her again! So seeking her out to "hear" her can be fun, and enlightening as to what she's thinking.

I hear about things like someone at school who was mean to her and I think that’s a rarity because from what I know and see, she’s rarely ever mean to anyone so it’s hard to hear that she’s learned that someone may not like her for whatever reason they may have.

As her Nana, I want to tell her that the person is just being rude or spiteful and to avoid them, but that’s because I want to protect her against anything that hurts her. I didn’t actually say that to her, I just wanted to. Instead, we talked about the fact that we don’t live in a perfect world and not everyone treats people the way they should. We talked about how God calls us to be who He created us to be, and not what someone else thinks we should be in our lives. It gave me a chance to tell her that in God’s eyes (and in mine too) she is very, very special the way she is, and that God wouldn’t want her to try and be anything but herself.

These are the kinds of conversations that don’t often happen when you have all 4 or 5 grandkids in the car (or at home) because there are just too many things going on with that much chaos and fun happening! And that is why I love the date nights with my grandchildren.”

So, on a less serious note – here’s how date night went down! ;)


I picked Emily up at her house and we made the final decision as to what she wanted to do. As usual, she chose to dress up in a favorite dress! I gave her a few suggestions and in true Emily style, she wanted to do them all so we had to narrow it down to a few things (it was a school night, after all).


We headed out to All Fired Up so she could do a little pottery painting. She chose a horse to paint. I tried to talk her into doing a plate or cup for her snacks and hot tea she loves, but she told me no, they’d just break. So a horse it was because, of course, a pottery horse won’t break! ;)


Then we headed to Barnes & Noble to pick out a book. One book. One book out of the entire store – but this is Emily we’re talking about. She agonized over which book she wanted, and she would have bought 50 if I would let her. After about 45 minutes of carrying several around, we bought 2 books (okay, I caved and let her get 2 books). I was surprised at the 2 she picked, but my goal is to let them do the choosing…within reason. I made her put the scary, gory-looking Dracula book back! She’s had an interest lately in Dri-acula, as she puts it, I have no idea why as she’s never seen one of the movies or anything.

Then we headed for her choice for dinner. This was her most surprising choice to me because I fully expected her to opt for crab at Red Lobster - it’s about her favorite meal! But because she really, REALLY wanted to watch the next Harry Potter movie in line (she had just finished the book and she gets to watch each movie after she reads the book), she opted for …wait for it …wait for it… KFC at my house during her movie! KFC at home instead of crab, but she loved it!

I wanted to do something different this time around, so I decided to interview each of the kids on my dates with them by asking each the same 10 questions, so here are Emily’s results:

1. What is your favorite movie? Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

2. What makes you the happiest? When I get to see my friends

3. What did Jesus do on the cross for you? Died on the cross because we were more important than His life, because He loved us so much.

4. Where would you like to go on vacation? Harry Potter World in Florida (Shocking!)

5. Who is your best friend? Miss Molly and Tessa and Daisha

6. What are you most afraid of? Death – other people that die

7. What is your favorite thing about yourself? My heart (I loved that answer!)

8. What is your favorite thing to do at home for fun? Play Club Penguin or read a book or write a story.

9. What is your favorite food? Peanut butter and Crab (And yet she picked KFC!)

10. What do you want to be when you grow up? A scientist that studies the art of Christianity and religion (Wow!)

So that concludes my date with Emily. It was the simplest one I’ve had with her yet and I was a little sorry that she’s gotten old enough that she didn’t do some sudden funny thing like her last date when she went down on her hands and knees to show me her latest move in the Twister game – right at the entrance of the restaurant we were at! I have a love/hate thing for them growing older and more mature! ;)

Tomorrow night…I’m on with Allyson!