Grandchildren and Grasshoppers

My grandmother, Momo, loved to read, and she passed that love to me. And, although I didn’t put it together when I was a child, she also loved poetry. Oh, not the flowery stuff, but strong verse, words that told a story, or taught a lesson.

She often quoted poems to me when we were together, and one I remember quite well, probably because she felt like I needed to hear it pretty often. In my memory, it goes like this:

               “A grasshopper once joined a game of tag

                With some crickets who lived nearby,

                When over he went and stubbed his toe,

                Too quick to see with the eye.

                The crickets leaned up against a fence,

                And chirped ‘til their sides were sore;

                But the grasshopper said, ‘You’re laughing at me,

                And I won’t play anymore!’

                So off he went, though he wanted to stay,

                For he was not hurt by the fall;

                And the merry crickets went on with their game,

                And never missed him at all.”

She said it to me so often that “A grasshopper once joined a game of tag……” and a knowing look in her eye made me stop and take stock of my behavior. I thanked her, grudgingly, then; now I bless her for her life lessons.

Last week we had five of our granddaughters over, and as it got dark I suggested they pick a movie to watch while the baby, Abbie, was being put to bed. This usually incites a riot because their tastes are so different. I’ve learned to stay out of it, because they effect some sort of compromise, and besides, our selection is pretty limited.

But this time they simply couldn’t agree, because Katie was dead-set on one movie, and only one. No other movie would satisfy her. She was outvoted by the other three, and then she said it, “If you guys are going to watch that movie and not mine, then I’m going to sit in the other room and not watch it!"

All of a sudden, out it came, without me thinking about it. And as I said it, she gave me a puzzled look, because she’s only six. But someday she’ll get it.

“Hey, Katie. I want you to hear something.

                ‘A grasshopper…’”