One of the highlights of my retirement is the flexibility I have in helping my daughter, Kacee, a single mom of three, with my grandchildren, Tilleigh, 11, Evie, 7, and William, 5.
A regular "duty" of mine as a doting grandmother is to take Evie to swim practice during the week at Girls Preparatory School in North Chattanooga. Evie and Tilleigh swim on the Signal Mountain Green Giants swim team in the summer, and Evie swims year-round at GPS.
I enjoy taking Evie to swim practice for many reasons, one being she's a second-generation Nazor to swim at GPS (following in the footsteps of her aunt, Karah, who still swims) and another being that I simply love watching her swim. Most importantly, it affords me one-on-one time with Evie.
As a mother of four, I appreciated the time I got to spend individually with each of my children as I drove them to whatever sport or activity they were participating in at the time. I put thousands of miles on my car every year going back and forth to practices, games, meets and recitals. But it was during those hours of riding in a car that the kids let loose with whatever was on their minds - good or bad.
I welcomed those moments.
So here I am 27 years after my oldest child, Kacee, graduated from high school, and I'm doing it again ... taking a kid to practice. I never thought I'd be this fortunate.
The round trip from our houses (my daughter and her children live next door) to GPS is about 30 minutes each way. That's one hour per night of swimming that Evie shares whatever is going on in her world or in her brain. It is priceless. The kid can talk. And talk. And talk.
Evie has no secrets and loves to embellish her stories. Her imagination is impressive. One night last week, for example, she told me it would be good to have a "world toy store" in Chattanooga where every country in the world would sell toys that were popular with kids in their particular countries.
"It would be so much fun to walk around and see what kids in other countries like to play with," she told me on our drive home from GPS. "It would be like going on Amazon and picking out a toy from another country, but instead of having to wait for the toy to come in the mail, you could just drive to the 'World Toy Store' and get it that day."
She said there would be "bowls and bowls" of candy from each country sitting at the cash register, and each child visiting the store could select one piece of candy at no cost. But because it would be difficult to decide which piece of candy to get, the child would draw a number out of a jar and the number would correspond with a bowl of candy from one of the many countries, Evie said. The child would then get a piece of candy from that particular bowl.
Brilliant.
Evie routinely tells me about her day at school, what she's studying that particular day and what she played at recess.
She's compassionate, cares about the Earth, is appalled at littering, doesn't like bullies and talks about how important it is to help others.
But best of all? This little girl is filled with love. At 7, she's already got her priorities straight.
She unashamedly holds my hand when we walk into practice, and, if we get there early, she sits on my lap and talks until it's time to get in the water. She's not embarrassed to be there with her grandmother. In fact, I know that it means a lot to her that I take her to practice. She appreciates it. She tells me "thank you." She never gets out of my car without telling me she loves me.
I am well aware that time flies and days quickly morph into years. Before I know it, my little Evie will be going off to college (though she says she'll never leave Chattanooga). Who knows, maybe one day Evie will become the CEO of the World Toy Store, and, everyone, even adults, will get a free piece of candy.
Contact Karen Nazor Hill at khill@timesfreepress.com.