At first he is scared and apprehensive about it, but with some encouragement and with the protection of a red cape she gives him, he learns to have fun and trust his grandmother as she takes him on excursions through the city.
This is particularly meaningful to me because I live with two aching losses in my heart -- my son I lost in 2014 and my mother in 2016. When I read the story, it reminds me of what would have been a likely situation - dropping off my son to spend time with my mother. I can imagine his apprehension at being somewhere strange and unfamiliar. I can imagine her knitting a cape for him and feeding him snacks. I can see him dancing to music, I can see her taking him on many adventures.
When I read this story to Lexi, it's as if I'm telling her about a world that exists parallel to our own - like a window into heaven.
Someday I will have a better way to explain to Alexis how she isn't our first child, and that she had a grandmother who loved her very much (and is similar to her in so many ways). But for now, we read this simple story, and she calls the boy in the story, "ge-ge" (older brother) and the woman "nai-nai" (dad's mother), and I get to think about the loves in my life I have lost. And then I proceed to hold my daughter a bit tighter.
