Through Destiny's Eyes

Hi!! I’m Destiny. Guess what? This weekend coming up is the weekend that I get to spend two nights at my grandma’s house!! As soon as that bell rings at school and my teacher says “Have a good weekend”, I’m going to run all the way home just as fast as I can so I can pack my clothes.

Do you know what I like about staying at my grandma’s house? I get a break from my mommy!! She’s nice and everything, but she has a bit of a problem. I try not to say anything because if I talk back she says I’m being sassy. I don’t know why she does this, but she will say things to me, and I try to listen to her, but the last time I tried to do what she said, I got in trouble!! For instance, she is always telling me that I can’t live in fear all of my life. And she even told me that I was afraid of my own shadow. She tells me all the time to “face your fears, little lady, and take them out.” She says that to me ALL the time.

Last week I went into my room to do my homework and I needed more light to see better so I took the lampshade off of my lamp. When I did that, guess what I saw? My shadow!! It was on the wall, and it was way taller than me!! So, do you know what I did? I decided that I was going to face my fear and take it out, just like my mommy said. I thought my mommy would be so proud of me, but when I picked up my tennis racket and smashed that shadow in the face, she wasn’t too happy about it. She came in the room and saw that big hole in the wall, so I thought she was going to give me a high five, but she just started swatting at me like I was a fly or something. I had mixed emotions. On the one hand, I faced my fear and I’m not afraid of my shadow (I never thought I was in the first place) and on the other hand, I got grounded.

Anyway, when I go over to my grandma’s house, it’s gonna be a whole ‘nother story. First of all, I get a break from my mommy AND from all of my brothers too!! I have five of them and we all live in one little house with my mommy and my daddy and the dog, oh, and my three goldfish, but we only have one bathroom. That’s a wee wee bit of a problem. At my grandma’s house, there are two bathrooms and two people – me and her -- and we have the whole house to ourselves – no boys allowed.

My grandma is always so glad to see me and she gives me the biggest hug ever!! She hugs me so tight sometimes that I can hardly breathe. When I try to hug my mommy like that she pushes me away and says it's too hot to be all over her. Sometimes I want to say to her “but it’s the middle of winter,” but I don’t want to be disrespectful.

I like staying over at grandma’s house in the winter too. I get to sleep in her tall bed right next to her. When she asks me if I’m cold and I say yes, she grabs this big quilt that she stuffed herself, and then she plops it down on me. It’s heavy, but it feels so good. I like it when she does that.

My grandma has glaucoma and cataracts in both of her eyes, so she can’t see very well. I help her to see sometimes so she calls me her “seeing eye child.” One time when we were upstairs in the bathroom and she was about to run me some bathwater, there was something black in the bathtub. I know that she couldn’t see very well, but what I saw, with my own eyes, was a little baby mouse!! My grandma just took her hand and scooped it down the drain. When I saw that I said “aww, man!! We could have saved it to feed that barn owl that is always sitting on top of Miss Elam’s roof.” My grandma said “Save what? To feed what barn owl?” I just said, “never mind.”

So, anyway, I have to finish packing my bag. My daddy is going to be here as soon as he gets off from work and take me over there. So I’ll talk to you later. Okay?