Image by Brigitte Werner from Pixabay
“See, it's really important to live with the right people so you can have good ideas.”
This was Grayson Ludlow, six years old, talking with his eight-year-old neighbor Gracie Trent.
“Ain't it the truth,” she said, sounding just like her grandmother Gladys. “The right people help you have the right ideas.”
Neither the Trent parents nor the Ludlow grandparents interrupted because it was rare for Grayson to be holding a conversation … the quietest of the seven Ludlow grandchildren spent his days working with his little hands, building with Legos, drawing, coloring, and venturing into his sisters' papier-mache and his Trent neighbors work with clay.
“The right people give you time, too, to build things up and stuff,” Grayson said. “I mean, I like school too, and I like to read, but it takes more time to really build up stuff, like wall art.”
“Ain't it the truth, Grayson, because walls are big, and that takes time.”
“Even if I had enough Legos to build a whole house wall, that would take a long, long time,” he said, “so, I practice building little walls and mix the colors up. Wanna see?”
“Sure!”
In another few minutes, out came Grayson with his little red wagon heaping full of Legos.
“So, a wall that doesn't have a house still needs a foundation,” he said, and put down a platform to build on. “I also find that you need to build a wall that is kinda thick, too, but that means you can have different colors on both sides.”
“Makes sense to me,” Gracie said.
“You just have to kind of think about what you want, though, because you can't just have a messy wall,” Grayson said.
“Edwina your sister does this with clothes,” Gracie said, “and she is right.”
“Fashion and art are kinda the same thing,” Grayson said. “Some people use clothes, but they don't build together as well as Legos. What colors would you like to build with today?”
“Oh, I think green will be nice for today.”
“If we start with green, and use some pink or purple on top, we can make a wall that looks a little like a flower by leaving space. It's like doing a coloring book, with Legos.”
“I like coloring a lot, so this will be really cool,” Gracie said, and she and Grayson built a wall that looked very much like it had roses blooming in it, at least by color placement.
“You just have to kind of think about what you want, and then have time, and for all that, you need to be with the right people,” Grayson said.
“Ain't it the truth,” Gracie said. “Maybe if we use blue with some light blue and white, we can make a ocean wave wall.”
“Yep,” Grayson said. “I think we have to put the dark blue at the bottom, and the light blue and then the white kinda waving around on top.”
It took a little while experimenting, but Grayson and Gracie got their wave wall together.
Parents and grandparents just took the time to photograph and video all of this, for the special memories.
“Lil' Robert thinks he is going to walk off with Gracie some day,” Mrs. Ludlow said to Capt. Ludlow, “but see, Grayson is putting in work!”
Capt. Ludlow smiled.
“Grayson is one of those that will end up out-competing a lot of people for a lot of things, but not for the sake of the competition. He is one of those who will be putting in work when nobody sees him for weeks, months, and years, and when he comes out light-years ahead of everyone else, nobody will be able to comprehend it. Nor will he draw attention to it because that's not the point … he will be the kind of man who will have dust on his prizes because doing the work is the thing that makes him happy. All he wants is to build and have someone to build with … a simple life, and among the best.”
“Ain't it the truth,” Mrs. Ludlow said, and enjoyed the simple pleasure of her husband cracking up laughing.