The Little Laddie

3/5/15

Several years back, in the heady days before the tumble of 2008, my husband shared season tickets with a few other fellas for Golden State Warriors basketball.  Right now the team is on fire, but back then...well, not so much.  Our seats were behind a group of Irish nationals who would repeatedly encourage the team by shouting out "Let's go laddies!!"  My husband and I liked that, and took the cheer home with us where it somehow morphed into calling our son Max, the "little laddie".  Recently I read a post on line about the treasured "little kid" years - the golden years of say 5 to 11, before those little ones transform into sometimes not so easy to love teenagers.  The post spoke about how many parents put so much effort into creating opportunity for their youngsters to experience awe and wonder... at trip to the beach, to see Christmas windows in the city, or a visit to Disneyland, so we can experience it again ourselves through their eyes.  It struck a chord with me.  My son is now 25 and living his life as a scholar at virtually the other end of the world - Jaipur, India.  I miss him very much and get nostalgic sometimes for those "little laddie" days.  Though I'm not there yet, I have a sneaking suspicion that having another shot at this sense of wonder is what being a grandmother is all about.  So I'm making him a card, because nothing says love quite like a handmade card. It's early March and this is going to be a St. Patrick's Day card, to wish him luck on his journey.  I'm using Pink Ink's "Lucky Day" greeting (no. 10117) with the "Cheery Windowbox" stamp (no.2239) colored in a myriad of greens.  With it, I'm wishing luck across the seas to my own little laddie and sending wishes of happiness to all of our little lads and lassies that we hold so dear.  Colored with Prisma Colored Pencils Nos. 908 dark green, 909 grass green, 910 true green, 911 olive green, 913 spring green, 994 lt. yellow green, 1006 parrot green, 1016 deco aqua, 1089 pale sage, 1096 kelly green and accented with 951 copper.  I added the wood grain effect on the box by drawing with a stylus.  Trimmed with pale green and white twine by Divine Twine.