The art of patience

I'm counting down the days until my nephew arrives just before Christmas; to say I'm excited to see him and have him here for a couple weeks is the understatement of the century. They say, patience is a virtue, and I agree but when it comes to seeing that little chap, patience is a virtue I don't possess.

I've spent the last couple of months getting things arranged, buying him things and thinking about what we can do. A lot of it is experience-oriented and outdoors-focused as that's what he loves and I've got some cool things arranged: Pushing biking, kayaking, treasure hunting at the beach, playgrounds, water gun fights, playing Lego, drawing and a lot of other things. He's a really smart little four year old and I'm looking forward to playing some games he makes up too.

I was thinking about what to get him for Christmas and decided some art stuff would be great as he has a very creative side, although he is quite technical by nature so is more likely to be an engineer than an artist I guess. He likes to paint though, and is getting very good at it.

You're looking at one of his artworks in the image, done over a year ago around when he turned three. This was sent to me in the mail and I keep it on my home-office desk and see it every day.

A couple weeks ago I came up with the idea of getting him a stretched canvas, one large enough to hang on my office wall, and some paints for Christmas so that he could paint something and leave here for me. I then had a total brain-wave and thought it would be really cool to get him to use the same easel that my father, and artist, used for many years which I have kept for sentimentality reasons. Some photos of my nephew painting using the easel his granddad used for so many years would be kind of cool right?

Luckily my nephew met his granddad before he passed away although he was young, around two years old...a year later my dad died. I feel sorry for the little chap, and my niece @smallsteps also, as they will not get to have grandfather moments with my dad like I had with my own grandfather, although, I never met my dad's father, just my mother's father. Still, those memories are treasured moments and it would have been cool for my nice and nephew to have had him around.

I really miss my niece and nephew; them living so far away sucks really, I miss out on so much of their lives; they're both growing so quickly, @smallsteps into a beautiful little girl and my nephew into a bonkers kid that reminds me of my two younger brothers and myself at his age. They are both very important parts of my life and I think about each of them daily.

I really need these two weeks at Christmas time, seeing that little lad is going to be the highlight of what has been a really challenging year. The only thing that would make that time better would be for @tarazkp to pack up his daughter and send her down to hang out with uncle G-dog and my bonkers nephew for a few weeks...Ah, the mischief the three of us would get into.

I've been working really hard at the art of patience and mostly succeed. Ok, rarely succeed, is more truthful.