Willow Is Nine

by Pa Rock
Proud Grandfather

Willow Midnight Seraphina Files, my Oregon granddaughter, is nine-years-old today.  She shares her birthday with my favorite author, Mark Twain, who was born a mere one-hundred-and seventy-six years before Willow.

I have six grandchildren and was fortunate to have met three of them on the day they were born.  Two of the others I met during their first month of life.  But little Willow, who was born while I was working overseas, was almost a year old before I had the pleasure of meeting her.  

Because Willow and her brothers, Sebastian and Judah, live so far away, I am only able to see them a couple of times a year - and over the past twelve months I have not seen them at all because of the pandemic.  But on those times when I do manage to get to Oregon, I try to spend time with the kids and experience what they are doing.  I have mentioned in these birthday posts about the time Willow met two real Disney Princesses - Snow White and Cinderella - and I was lucky enough to have been there and gotten to watch her interact with them.  Oh, that was an exciting evening!

Another favorite memory of mine was watching Willow play soccer.   There were hundreds of kids playing several soccer games that Saturday morning at an outdoor soccer complex in Salem, Oregon, but my granddaughter, young Willow, seemed to be the fastest one there and was intently focused on running to wherever the ball was!  Pa Rock exhausted himself just watching her!

This past year Willow made a name for herself in the arts when a cheetah that she drew and colored as a class project was chosen to adorn the cover of her school's yearbook.  Pa Rock bought a copy of that yearbook and shows if off to all of his friends!

All of my grandchildren, from Sully who is in a pre-school to Boone who is in college, have had a hard year with school due to the pandemic.  Willow is a third-grader this year and really likes school.  It bothered her a lot last year when she went to school one day, and the next day, with no warning, learned that school was over for the year.   She and most of the rest of the country were suddenly being schooled at home and learning at their computers.  I looked Willow's school up on-line this morning to see if they were having in-person classes yet, and the school's homepage said that it would be "opening soon,"  What a mess!

Willow, it's important to stay safe and defeat that nasty old coronavirus.  Things are going to get better - and soon you will be back at school with all of your friends and teachers.

But until then, study hard at home!

Pa Rock loves you and wishes you the very best on your ninth birthday!  May your day be filled with ice cream and cupcakes aplenty!