Creativity

Even Grandpas can make mistakes. I would like to think that grand-kids consider grandparents amazing creatures that can do no wrong. And although I try not to disappoint, I admit that from time to time, I am not perfect.

Last weekend, our twin granddaughters were at the house. To keep them occupied, I suggested they write and illustrate a story. They took to the idea right away. Caiti immediately began to lay out the story of a deer that got caught in the rain, or something like that. She dictated to me and I wrote a sentence on each page, then printed the story out on several pages, ready for drawings.

I was pleased about how I stimulated some creativity in them. Perhaps a young writer would grow out of this exercise. Caiti finished with the first page, and with some pride in her voice, showed it to me. It was a picture of a deer, with a big number "one" crowding his face.

"Oh," I said. "Usually you put the page number at the bottom of the page."

Her voice changed to a sadder tone. "I messed up," she said.

I tried to convince her that it really was OK, but the damage was done. She knew that this was a "do-over." The problem is that she never did it over. I broke the creative momentum with my editorial comment. The project now lies dormant.

That's right--me, Bubba--trying to be an editor, even with the kids. Oh, well. Live and learn.

The next day, I finished a photo project I was working on. It was an idea I had to layer photos between glass sheets. The effect is a multi-dimensional view. In this one, I took shots of the girls making funny poses one day. I then printed the photos and layered them.

This particular picture has one girl behind the other. Cori's picture turned out smaller, so I put her behind Caiti. Something in the back of my mind told me that this might be trouble; I always try to treat each of them equally.

When I showed the end results to them, Cori immediately picked up on the inequality of the project.

"Why am I behind Caiti?" she asked.

Quickly, I responded: "Uh, it's because you're special." There--Bubba fixed it.

"Does that mean Caiti is not special?" she asked.

OK, Bubba, now what?