It’s amazing how much energy is bundled up in the body of a child. It makes sense, however, when you think about how much growing lies ahead of them. They have to get the juice from somewhere. And you’d think I’d be used to it, having raised three. Still, it’s a surprise when you encounter it as I did yesterday when I spent the previous evening and most of the morning and early afternoon with my youngest grandkids. They’re on fire, and smart, too.

I got to watch the second grader sing for the veterans, I’m one, and then we got to eat lunch together because it was also grandparents’ day. Then we went to the bookfair to shop and ultimately bought a book. Except hers was a diary with sparkly bits all over the outside, and I think it’s good to encourage writing. So, we spent more than her mom budgeted. Then I took a pause and waited for the first grader, and I ate lunch again and went to the book fair, again. He bought a book on sharks and a graphic novel, for kids.

As he and I returned to the lunchroom, one of his classmates, a young lady, gestured for him to join her and he did. Grandpa was left standing. That was okay. I found a place to sit, and it was fun watching them. They were so easy with one another. Later, when I was recounting the tale to his mother, she said that was his new girlfriend. He had a different one last year, but they broke up. When his mother asked him why, he replied simply, “I don’t know the secrets of her heart.” I spent most of last night trying to make that into a song and wondering how a child could have so much wisdom.

John W. Wilson is the author of The Long Goodbye: A Caregiver’s Tale