The Marble Story

marble madness
Originally uploaded by iMatthew

When I was a little girl, my Grandpa and I would go for walks, usually we'd go visit his father or go back to his old neighborhood. It was always a treat for me to have him all to myself and the special trips usually included seeing the big Indian statue, eating White Castle hamburgers (no onions on Grandpa's), and I would ALWAYS find marbles! No matter where we went, I would surely find them glistening in the gravel driveways or in a patch of grass. Man, I had a special gift - I could find marbles!

What I didn't know was that before we left on our trips, Grandpa would grab a handful of marbles from the terrarium and put them in his pocket. As we'd walk, and when my attention was trained on something else that delighted my 6 or 7 year-old self, Grandpa would toss a few marbles out in front of us. I never noticed that the marbles I found were the same as the ones I deposited into the terrarium when we returned from our walks.

When I was much older, though before I had my own kids, my Grandpa let me in on the secret. Instead of feeling tricked, I thought he was THE MOST Clever man. Before my daughter was born, he gave me "my marbles" so I could have a "marble girl" too.

Time has passed and with so many moves, I'm not sure which of the marbles we have are mine and which are my kids', but they are still there. My kids were more interested in finding leaves and rocks and little odd bits of nature; they never really felt the magic of the marbles that I did. Maybe when I have grandkids I'll bring back the marbles.

So much about my Grandpa and Grandma brought me joy, this is just one of the many ways. Being Grandpa's "Marble Girl" still makes me feel special to this day.