Geronimo!

Five year olds are among my favorite people. I was five once - as were all my seven children and seventeen grandchildren. The dearest friend of my life, I met when we were five. For all the years and thousands of miles that separate us, she loves me still, as I do her.

Hayley and Ryan are cousins and my youngest grandchildren. She is tall, fair-skinned and typical Anglo-Saxon. He is a beautiful round brown-skinned boy.

When the clan gathers, much of the entertainment is about the amazing perceptions and observations of the very young.

When she was three, Hayley informed her mother after a pre-view of pre-school she would only play with “the chocolate girl”. They became close friends for all the time they were together.

That summer, there was a swim after dark. We had a spotlight on the diving board. She took tiny steps towards it, elbows tight to her side, hands clutching open and shut, half whimpering, half giggling. She climbed up on the board and we told her “You don't have to do this, Hayley girl”

But she had already blanked us out. She was going to do it. She inched her way to the end with her toes curled and stood... for all of three seconds. Ahead of her... everything was black...no moon ... not a star to be seen. Then she jumped ...as high and as far as she could go.

Floating behind her, a small thin high voice cried out ...”GERONIMO” Ryan stood on my bones one day. Resting his arms on my shoulders, he scrutinized my face, and then he poked his finger into my cheek. “Oooh” he said, “It's crinkly”. His mother gasped. But I told Ryan, if he is lucky, he will live long and have beautiful grandchildren, who will stand on his bones, poke a finger into his cheek and say, “Oooh...It's crinkly.” Hayley and Ryan enjoy each other. There is an affinity between them. When they tire of leaping in, racing to the steps and climbing out of the pool, they sit on the deck facing each other, knees bent, toes touching ...and chat. They never run out of conversation. They need no-one else.

Small children continue to amaze and delight me. How much they learn in such a very short time... How well they converse and articulate their thoughts.

Later, when they need to be serious, I will offer some advice. I will tell them:

Take nothing for granted...Listen well to what you hear... Read everything... more than once if need be...When the time comes to make a decision - let it be yours. If there are to be mistakes...and there will be...let them be yours. Because the consequences will be yours to bear ... the lessons will be yours to learn ... and life will never fail to engage you.