I had the distinct pleasure of some quality time with a very special little girl named Grace. She is my daughter’s daughter. No, that does not make me her grandfather. And especially not her grandpa. Nope, those titles just don’t fit. I ride a motorbike, own a surfboard, and am working on a screen-accurate 60’s TV series version of the Green Hornet costume for Halloween. I am Gracie’s grandad. Yes, I’ve spelled it wrong. Ha! This is not the story I want to tell right now. Jump ahead to the paydirt below.

That’s right. This is the spot. Read now. I was with Gracie (her cool friends and her very young grandad call her that) most of Saturday. During that time, she gave me some much needed ballet dance lessons. I may be only a young grandad but a feller can’t take balance for granted, especially when his main mode of motation these days is a Honda two-wheeler. But here I’ve wandered into the rutabaga patch. Sorry. Meet me down on the next line.

I have to say the ballet lessons went well, though Grace did issue a stern, “Grandad, let’s stick to dancing” when I tried to wander into the kitchen for a breather. I felt validly rebuked and promptly returned to do whatever it was we were doing in the name of dance.

At dinner time, I sat across from this little ballet princess/taskmaster. All during the day at various times, I heard Gracie exclaim, “Oh my word!” I had to admit, she used this expression with perfect tonal accuracy and verbal position. Remarkable. So remarkable, at dinner, I lost control of my vocabulary and decided to try that same expression.

“Oh my word!” came springing from my lips directly squarely at Gracie between bites of delicious roast beef and cooked potatoes. Grace looked at me with a nonverbal textbook visual equivalent of insulting her mama (which I would never do since her mama happens to be my most precious one and only daughter). Gracie’s eyes turned to lasers as she shouted, “Grandad, that is my catch phrase!”

Gracie the Helmeted Scuba Ballerina

Whoops! Evidently I had tread on sacred sod. Back to ballet. Hey Gracie, these are my words!