Seeing stuff and really SEEING stuff

One of the things I like best about being savta, is taking Little Miss to the Minneapolis Institute of Art. MIA is a really big place and it's full of all sorts of stuff, from ancient stuff to classic stuff to weird stuff. It is an absolute feast...and this is coming from someone who spent way too much time hanging around the Met and the Frick in the City. MIA is not the Met, nor does it pretend to be the Met, but they are a robust institution, responsive to the community, and appropriately whimsical when necessary. One of the things I am looking forward to as the pandemic recedes and life reopens for this retiree is wandering around MIA by myself whenever I feel like it. 

Thursday, Little Miss and I went to MIA for our chol ha'moed adventure. She had been there recently with her mom, so she had a few things she wanted to see again. I had a different agenda, one I was certain she would embrace....and she did. I brought two sketch pads and some pencils for us to share. When she wanted to sit for a bit in front of the fountain, I whipped out the supplies and said, "Let's sketch!"  We talked about what sketching was, what seeing was, and how one puts what one sees on the page. Sitting side by side, we worked in silence. She was still drawing, I was sketching, and when we compared our work, I got to see the light bulb go on. She wanted to know how to make her pencil do what I did, so we did that for a while. We talked about what we each saw, and she mentioned she thought it was good to see other views of the fountain, too.

We walked around the fountain to look at it from all sides. We talked a little about what was different. Then we went upstairs so we could see it from above. All of a sudden we could see coins people have tossed in. We watched people watching the fountain and wondered together about how they saw it.  Was it different from how we saw it?

We wandered some more, took a break to eat our Pesadik picnic lunch outside, then wandered inside some more. So many questions, so many intakes of breath when she spied something beautiful. And so many soft sighs as she wandered through the recreated rooms from England. "I want to go there for real," she said more than once. Six years old....and already planning a trip abroad. I can get behind that thought. After all, she reminded me, she's already been to Ireland, "even if I don't remember anything about it." Why would she? She was still a teeny-tiny baby at the time. But she just renewed her passport, so she's ready to go at a moment's notice. 

Her eyes miss nothing. Watching her seeing is the best thing ever. I know when I see her later this week, there will be some leftover questions. There always are. As she becomes increasingly familiar with MIA, I know the day will come when she says, "I wanna see ....and then I wanna see....."  And we will go look at whatever she wants to see ...and then some. 

Taking her to MIA or to a ballet or to the theater is exactly what I want to be doing for both kids...at least when Young Sir is a bit older. I want them to find friends in the arts, to be comfortable in spaces where performance occurs. I want to watch Little Miss step back from a picture, as she did on Thursday, and ask what's she doing? and, without looking at me, awaits the explanation because, after all, Savta knows these things. 

I am over the moon that she has discovered reading for pleasure and is flying through books like mad. I cannot wait to inflict THE FIVE LITTLE PEPPERS AND HOW THEY GREW on that child. I loved that book. There are so many others my British grandmother conned me into reading, and I want her to read them all. There's a whole world out there to explore from a window seat curled up with a dog. Right now, the look of wonder on her face as she discovers stuff and pieces it all together is priceless. Connections and interconnections are being forged every moment, and sometimes, I even get to see the process. And then, if I'm really lucky, I get to answer some of the questions. 

D'or l'd'or : generation to generation. I get to be a link. How cool is that?

In my world, we are still counting the Omer and I am still aching with every number. Today, in the car, I yelled at Ziggy for not being here to see those two offshoots. And when I stopped yelling, I admitted out loud that I am so damn thankful that I get to go to MIA with Little Miss, and I get to read stories to Young Sir.  

Yeah, some days are easier than others, so I will console myself with the delicious thought that this Friday is a Nanny Day. It doesn't get much better than that.

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

No museum trip is complete without a visit to one's favorite work of art.

Little Miss with our family's favorite statue at MIA

Ganymede and the Eagle by Bertel Thorvaldsen