I am a Grandma, of course

And Clayton was here yesterday. That's Clayton Oliver Scaggs, my grandson. He's nine.

Clayton is a fine boy, great kid. Yesterday simply underscores what I knew, but it was quite a heavy underscore.

He is polite and thoughtful and helpful. Cleared his own dishes, kept his things neat and in order with no word from me. Offered to help me, offered to go get a drink for me. Did what I asked. And he was patient. Yes, I said patient.That's really good for a nine-year-old. He's just really good. I told him he was perfect.

I'm guessing the best thing we did was to go out to Lucky Peak in the afternoon. We drove over the dam and around to a place where we could walk down some metal stairs to a picnic area, and from there he could walk into the water. Yes, it was a designated swimming area.

I told him it would be cold water. He acknowledged later that it had been cold, but at the time never said a word about it. He just played.

At first he was only ankle deep, then rolled up his shorts, then took off his shirt. When he was in up to his neck, I told him that was too far, and he came back in. After all, he had told me earlier in the day that he doesn't know how to swim.

He played for more than half an hour, throwing rocks and pieces of wood, digging in the mud. Playing. Fun to see him having fun.

When I took him home, he hugged me. That's without being asked to, he hugged me. Remarkable. Then he said, "Today was awesome." I have to agree.