What About Me?

“Gramma and Grampa, we’re here!” Justin called through the screen door of his grandparents’ house.

“Oh! There you are!” Gramma opened the door and grabbed Justin into a big hug.

Grampa was right behind for his hug then he followed Gramma toward the van to greet Justin’s parents and little sister, Ellie.

“Henry, look at this little princess they brought with them!” Gramma exclaimed as she held Ellie in her arms.

“Princess Ellie, come here and give Grampa his hug.”

Ellie went to him and wrapped her chubby, little arms around his neck.

“Aww,” everyone said.

Justin watched from the front porch while everyone talked about Ellie. Gramma took out her camera and snapped several pictures of her. Justin sighed. He was hungry and ready to go in and eat lunch. He wished they would hurry up.

Finally, the family went inside and sat down around the table. After they prayed, Justin took a huge bite of his turkey sandwich. Gramma made yummy food!

Then Justin noticed there were grapes in a bowl, but he didn’t have any on his plate yet. “May I have some grapes, please?” he asked politely. But no one paid attention to him. They were all busy talking.

Then Justin heard Gramma say, “Oh, here, have some grapes, Sweetie.” Justin looked up with a smile, but it quickly turned into a frown when he saw that Gramma wasn’t talking to him. She was talking to Ellie and putting grapes on her plate.

“Look at how much she’s eating,” Grampa exclaimed. “She’s going to grow up before we know it!”

Justin thought to himself, “Nobody noticed how much I grew.”

Justin finished eating his sandwich and asked to be excused. He went to the game room to find something to do. He could still hear his grandparents talking and laughing about the silly things Ellie did.

“Ellie is cute,” Justin thought, “but what about me?”

Justin found a puzzle and sat down to put it together. After a while, he heard his dad calling him. “Be right there!” he shouted as he fit the last piece in.

Justin ran back into the kitchen where everyone was still seated drinking coffee and chatting together. “Guess what I did!”

“What’s that?” asked Grampa.

“I put a whole puzzle together all by myself,” Justin said proudly.

“Very good!” Grampa replied. “But you know what your sister did? She took her napkin and wiped off her own face and hands just like a big girl—and here, she’s just two years old.”

“She learned that a long time ago. I taught her how,” said Justin.

“Did you now? Well, that’s very good. You’re a good big brother, aren’t you?” Grampa said, which made Justin smile. Grampa continued, “How about if a good big brother helps Gramma clear the dishes while I read a naptime story to Princess Ellie?”

“Okay,” said Justin. He started picking up the dishes from the table. When the dishes were finished, Justin went to see if Grampa would read a story to him. But Ellie was sleeping on his shoulder. So Justin tiptoed back to the kitchen where he found his mom and Gramma still talking.

“Gramma, will you read me a story?” he asked.

“Oh, your momma and I are chatting right now, Sweetie,” Gramma replied as she patted his hand.

Justin sat down and listened for a while, but they were talking about boring stuff like flowers and baking. He wandered outside and sank down onto the porch swing, feeling sorry for himself. Nobody was paying attention to him. How come they all thought Ellie was so special? He crossed his arms and frowned.

After a while, the front door opened, and Justin saw Gramma come out with a big book. She sat down next to him.

“I have something to show you,” she said, opening a book.

There were photos inside. Justin looked closely at them. They all showed a little baby boy.

“This little boy just loved to giggle,” said Gramma as she pointed to a picture of the baby laughing. “Oh, and here’s his first birthday!” That picture showed the boy with cake all over his hands and face.

Justin laughed and turned the page. “There he is taking his first baby steps!” Gramma explained.

Another picture showed the little boy sleeping. Beside him was a toy bear wearing a tiny baseball cap. “Hey! That looks just like my bear,” Justin said.

“Um hmm.” Gramma smiled. “That’s because it is your bear.”

“Huh?”

“It’s you, Dear,” she said.

“Really?”

“Yes. This whole book is full of pictures of you.”

“Wow!”

“You see, each of our children and grandchildren are gifts from God. Grampa and I love all of you. But you all grow up so fast that we can hardly stand it. So when we see you and your sister, we don’t want to miss a thing.”

“So that’s why you’ve been talking about Ellie all day? ‘Cause you never saw her do some of those things like wiping her own face?”

“Yes. We’ve seen you do many things and learn so much, and now we’re enjoying watching Ellie do them, too. Sometimes it’s easy to feel angry or jealous when people pay more attention to somebody else.” Gramma put her arm gently around Justin’s shoulder. “But I want you to know that there’s no need for that. Grampa and I want to have lots of time with Ellie and with you, okay?”

“Okay,” Justin said as he snuggled in close. “I love you, Gramma.”

“And I love you too, Justin.”