Kathy and I returned late last night from Iowa and from an all-too-brief visit to Randi and Matt in Decorah and our first chance since Christmas to see Anna and Kaj. (Their oldest, Aidan, was away at music camp.) We are so blest to be able to see our niece Lorelai on a very regular and frequent basis, but it also makes me acutely aware of how much less contact I have with my other nieces and nephews who live farther afield. . . . Henry especially in far off Seattle, but Randi and Matt’s children as well. So both Kathy and I were so thrilled that we could have a little time with these two precious youngsters who we love so much. In fact, having time with them was even better than eating Mabe’s Pizza. . . and those of you who know both me and Mabe’s Pizza realize what an extravagant compliment I am paying to my niece and nephew.
Kaj is a beautiful little boy, inside and out – and for a youngster who was very very tardy in speech development, he has more than caught up in that department! As we waited for our pizza to arrive for our Tuesday evening meal, Kaj enrolled me in some sort of role-playing game to which he has been devoting considerable time and energy over the last few weeks. He rattled off a long menu of characters I could be- a dragon, a half-dragon half-man, a wizard, a goblin, a farmer, etc. – – – and then asked me what I wanted to do first. Being rather slow on the uptake with such games, I asked for some options, and again was given a bunch of options – – – I could walk, I could run, I could attack, I could dig a tunnel, etc. in very crisp, businesslike fashion. At one point, I leaned over to Randi and whispered how impressed I was that Kaj was remembering all of the rules of this complicated game so well, to which she replied that Kaj was actually making all of this up on the fly. And suddenly, I realized that I wasn’t hearing my nephew rattling off something he had memorized – but was hearing him create all of this from his imagination. I was staggered- especially because this is a little boy who for a long long time seemed perfectly content to let his sisters and the rest of the world do all the talking. No longer!
Obviously, as someone who’s no stranger to verbosity himself, I would appreciate this about my little nephew, but what I love the most about him – okay, it’s two things and it’s a tie -is his kindness and his joy. The first is maybe the most beautiful of all human qualities, whether you’re seeing it in someone 5 or 95, and there’s probably nothing the world needs more of than that. The second is a quality that is so neat to see in someone who from the moment he emerged from the womb was at what some might call a marked disadvantage. . . with the wrong number of fingers and oddly formed feet. But to watch him play piano or tear around the yard, one would never guess that anything was amiss. in fact, I almost feel funny mentioning it because those physical abnormalities are so far beside the point with Kaj. And I hope that it will always be the case.
And if there weren’t already a lot of things for Kathy and I to appreciate about our little nephew Kaj, he sings like a bird. In fact, when Randi asked him to sing for us while we were waiting for the pizza (things were slow in the kitchen that night, for some reason) Kaj got up from his chair, stepped back a couple of feet, took a deep breath, and let fly with this wonderful little song about the Planet Earth that made him sound like he was a Beverly Sills wannabe. Clear, pure, wonderful high notes- and delivered with such assurance. (And if you want another taste of Kaj’s singing, you can go on my “Listen” page and page down to an excerpt from “Amahl and the Night Visitors” which is just precious.)
So there you have it. . . my completely unbiased appraisal of what makes Kaj such an exceptionally stupendous little boy. Rebuttals are most unwelcome, by the way – and completely pointless.
Next will be Anna . . .
Kaj: in a photo taken by Randi. (We left BOTH of our cameras at home for this whole trip, which left me feeling like a drum major without his whistle. . . still able to function but not nearly as well.) So thank you, Randi, for letting us pilfer a few shots from your considerable collection.