One Lovely Day

One Lovely Day

Alice had seen a small cemetery as she drove up to her granddaughter’s house to babysit that day. It was one of those emergencies, the regular daycare sitter was ill. And Janet had to run an important meeting which would be hard to miss. She called very early, begging, and Alice couldn’t say no.

The fact that she hadn’t been alone with a baby since Alice’s mother was a child was a bit unnerving, but Janet assured her it would be easy, she’d leave lots of notes and come home right after the meeting.

One-year-old Sally was adorable, and active! After two hours Alice was feeling a bit overwhelmed at the consistent energy of the toddler! She decided a quiet walk with the stroller was required. Though she didn’t know the area well, that cemetery would have lovely peaceful roads to push a baby along. Off they went.

As they walked slowly through, Alice recited the names on the headstones so that there would be some chatter between her and the baby. As she read a name, for instance, “John Jones,” Sally would chime in with some of her baby talk words. It was so cute! From Alice’s perspective, Sally seemed to be carrying on her side of a real conversation. Alice told the story many times after that because it was so cute!

Little did she know the reality was that Sally, still being young enough that she hadn’t forgotten everything yet, had had little conversations with each ghost as they passed his or her grave. She’d answered questions and talked about how things seemed to be now, albeit from a one-year-old’s perspective. They were all thrilled.

All in all, it turned out to be one lovely day for everyone involved.