Grandma, Do You Like To Paint?

Grandma, Do You Like To Paint?

BY MARY JO MELOY

While driving, my 3-year-old granddaughter was buckled in her car seat and inquired if I liked to paint. I said yes, and then a few minutes passed, and she asked again, “Grandma, do you like to paint?” I repeated my yes and wondered what was triggering this line of questioning. After arriving at our destination and getting ready to remove her from her car seat, I discovered her intense interest in painting.

Some restaurants provide crayons for young children as a fun activity while they wait for their food. A few crayons must have been previously left in the car’s interior armrest slot from some past eatery. Crayons contain wax! Wax crayons melt with heat! Entire cars almost melt in Texas heat! We live in Texas!

The back of the passenger seat served as a canvas for a beautiful abstract masterpiece. The layered colors over the colors of the melted crayon finger painting were not limited to the passenger seat back mural but extended to the back seat, the child car seat, the vehicle interior side door, and the little artist herself. One was immediately drawn to this piece of “art” for the artist combined creative, colorful, and emotional elements in a unique arrangement evoking a “MOOD” all its own.

Don’t Rush Me

One of my grandmother’s tasks was driving my 4th-grade granddaughter to and from school daily. One day, after school, with errands and extracurricular activity demands, I hurried her in an impatient and irritated manner. I immediately apologized, explaining, “I’m sorry for rushing you so, but we have little time and lots to do tonight.” Kayla nonchalantly responded, “It’s okay, Grandma. I have been rushed ever since kindergarten.”

 

Lady Liberty

During tax season, Liberty Tax Service drums up business with the attention-getting gimmick of lively dancers dressed like the Statue of Liberty. The dancing, waving, and sign-spinning subjects twirl arrows toward the nearest Liberty Tax office to lure people in. In all kinds of weather, the costumed characters engage with the public by standing out on the side of the road, jumping up and down, and waving at prospective customers. In 2024, the passing and takeover of the torch went to a new non-human mascot, a waving sign spinner named Torchie.

We drove past the Liberty Tax Service office while driving my young granddaughter to and from school. During tax preparation time, we passed the waving Statue of Liberty twice a day, and Kayla would wave back at the spirited, dancing, prancing, swaying, and smiling Statue of Liberty. Months later, with tax days passed, I showed Kayla a photo of her mother and uncles as children in New York posed in front of the Statue of Liberty. My granddaughter exclaimed that the statue in the picture was NOT the Statue of Liberty. I was taken aback and questioned what she meant. She explained that it was not waving.

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