She pulls me along the red tile stripes
that crisscross the plaza—Don’t touch
the cement Grandma, and she giggles.
She’s in charge and I’m her charge,
willing to follow her anywhere,
to taste her three-year-old joy.
Etching this moment in my mind,
seeing her as happy as happy can be,
I know she won’t remember it,
moving on to school, braces and boys.
But if she’s lucky one day,
she will mother and grandmother,
and get pulled back to this place.
Jeanie Greensfelder is a psychologist and poet. She has two grandchildren and two step-great-grandchildren.
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