Something Small

Something Small

“Unless I’ve learned something new everyday, I don’t count it as a good day. Might be something so small that no one else notices it.” Grandfather and grandson were in the garden clearing it up for winter. 

~~~~~

“My grandfather was about to give me more of his wisdom of his ninety years. I really never minded it. When I was a teenager, I sometimes got annoyed with hearing the same old stories, but as I got older, I just loved hearing them.”

 “Kind of like when I watch TV reruns and know what the character’s going to say?” Richard and his grandson, Joey, were working on the garden he planted every year. “That’s right, son.” He raked over where they had pulled out all the spent potato plants. “Your grandmother’s going to be happy with all the potatoes we've found.”

“Grandfather! I found another one. It’s really tiny but is that what your grandfather meant?” He held up a tiny purple potato no bigger than the end of the old man's thumb. “Sure is. And if he found one like that, he’d get down on his knees and dig into the dirt to see if there were more. Sometime there wasn’t anything, but sometimes he find one or two more.” Then he’d say  “Alway pay attention to the little guy, Richard. He’s got friends that are just waiting to be noticed, to be looked after.”

“What happened to the potatoes he’d find?” Richard was ready to throw the little potato away. “Why, he’d gather up what he had, take them in the house and your great-grandmother would make a potato salad. And if there were a lot of little ones, she’d cook them up for supper.” 

~~~~~

Quiet settled on the back yard. Only the late summer sun, a junco chirped, and a breeze rustled the drying leaves. The two gardeners picked up their rakes and hoe and put them away in the shed. A spider web was draped across one corner of the fence by the shed. Richard stopped and watched the spider at rest in the middle of the web. In the past he would have ripped it off, paying no attention to the spider. He felt different. “Grandfather, what do you know about spiders?”

“I think it’s important to find the little things 

in everyday life that make you happy.”

~ Paula Cole