By Grandpa Bob Niles
Hiiiii-Ya is my grandkids adopted battle cry when when conquering a giant intruder: me. No warning is given like ‘Grandpa look over here! Grandpa pay attention! Grandpa here I come. Grandpa get ready! Protect your swimsuit area! Instead, I get a whack or a smack or a small footprint on my legs or arms, back or stomach, concurrent with the resounding “Hiiiii-Ya.”
The twins, Peyton and Emmett, just sort of ooze onto you, as might a very runny dough. A dough that leaves seemingly endless slug trails from runny noses. It becomes a sea of arms, legs, sticks, swords, and spears that I have to immobilize. If heads are bumped, Ninjas have been known to cry. Game over.
It’s been written that the most precious thing around one’s neck is not pearls or gold, but the arms of a grandchild. I guess that includes arms that try to squeeze the last dying breath from the evil intruder. Arms that, without hesitation, grab hold and cling tight to a giant struggling to wrestle free. Arms that attack a balding, overweight dragon who tries to rise, but is held down.
Soon those little Ninjas will notice that their dragon and evil intruders have begun to wrinkle and stoop with age. All-too-soon peace will reign. Silence will echo through the kingdom. No more hiiiii-ya”s. No more leaping from imaginary valleys and peaks to surprise a dragon.
I’ll miss those magical days and the little Ninjas that brought them to life.
Bob Niles was born and raised in Vancouver, Canada where he lives with his wife of twenty- four years. They share three children and four wonder-filled grandchildren who inspire his writing. Bob Is a proud granddad who has experienced first-hand the joys, and oft times, the challenges, of day-caring his two granddaughters over the past six years.
