Adventures with Ledger

I wake up early every morning. Really early. Because of that, by late afternoon I’m ready to wind down and wrap up my day. On this particular Wednesday, I was extra tired. It was around 3:45 p.m. when I changed into my comfy clothes, grabbed my bible and laptop, and flopped down on the couch, ready for a quiet evening.

And then my phone rang.

I recognized the number—it was Jessica Ann, my oldest son’s superstar wife. But when I answered it wasn’t Jess, it was our grandson, Ledger McKnight. Ledge is four years old, and he and I are very close.

“Amma?” Ledge says.

He calls me Amma instead of Grandma.

“Yes, Ledge?” I respond, smiling at the sound of his voice.

“Can I come to your house to play, please?” Ledge asks, which catches me off guard. I mean, it’s almost 4:00 p.m. and I’ve been up since 3:30 this morning—my body is tired, and my brain is mush.

“Hmmm, is it ok with Mommy?” I ask, as a starting point.

Jess hears my question and joins in on speaker phone, “It’s fine with me but please don’t feel obligated. This is all his idea.”

Jess and I both chuckle because Ledge and I hang out together often, but this is the first time he has taken it upon himself to call me and ask if he can come over and play.

“Right now, please.” Ledge says, with growing impatience.

A yawn escapes me, but I shake it off and pull myself together. It’s a yes from me. Of course it is!

“Ok, are you coming here or should I pick you up?” I ask, trying to formulate a plan in my head.

“Come pick me up right now, please.” Ledge says, his voice so sweet I can barely take it.

“Okie Dokie artichokey, let me change into some real clothes and then I’ll come get you. What is it you would like to do, Ledge?” I ask, suddenly excited to see him.

“Go on a venture!” Ledge exclaims leaving out sounds and letters because he’s still learning pronunciation.

The way Ledger speaks is one of my favorite things in the entire world.

 “Right now, please!” He says for the tenth time.

“Ok, ok, Ledger boy. I’m on my way!” I tell him.

With a sense of urgency and excitement, I race through the house, change my clothes, throw on a ball cap, grab my keys and head to Dillon and Jess’s house. They live close so it only takes me seven minutes to get there.

When I arrive, Ledge is ready to go. He hugs his little brother and mommy goodbye, then rushes to my jeep with a big smile on his face.

“Are you ready to have some fun, Ledge?” I say, getting a second wind, thank goodness.

Ledge nods excitedly and gives me a thumbs up. He is so darling.

As I’m buckling him into his car seat, I notice he’s wearing his dad’s white golf glove on his right hand. It’s way too big for him, but he has the velcro wrapped tightly around his wrist, so it won’t fall off.

My workout bag is in the backseat next to Ledge and one of my black weightlifting gloves is hanging out of it. Ledge notices, reaches over and picks it up.

“What’s this, Amma?” He asks.

“Oh, that’s my workout glove.” I respond.

“Why?” He asks.

Ledge asks “why” a lot, and I answer him every time no matter what.

“I wear gloves when I lift weights, it helps so I don’t hurt my wrist or get blisters on my hands.” Ledge nods, staring at the glove.

“Would you like to try it on?” I ask, knowing he definitely wants to.

He nods and smiles triumphantly as I put it on his hand, pull the velcro snug around his wrist, and secure it. It fits better than his dad’s golf glove and Ledge looks quite pleased with it.

“Amma?” He asks.

Ledge says my name as many times as he asks why.

“Yes, Ledge?” I respond, knowing what’s coming.

“Ledger can wear this one, and Amma can wear Daddy’s glove?”

By the end of our conversation, I’m wearing Dillon’s glove and Ledge is wearing my glove because I guess that’s what we’re doing today.

With smiles and one-gloved hands, we wave goodbye to Ledge’s mommy and little brother and head for my house.

“I’ll have him home in time for dinner!” I yell to Jess, who is smiling as big as I am.

I find Ledge’s playlist on my phone and play one of his favorite songs— “BANG” from the KIDZ BOP 2022 album. I am not embarrassed to admit that I know all the lyrics and can happily sing along.

At a stop sign, I glance in the rear view mirror and see Ledge nodding his head and waving his hands in rhythm to the beat, so I start groovin’ too. Ledge’s blue eyes are sparkling and bright and I can tell we’re about to have some fun—we already are!

As we pull up into my driveway, Ledge reviews his agenda for our time together—a four year old with a strategic mind indeed.

“Amma, we’re going on a venture! We will play beeball (baseball), and occer (soccer), and go for a walk.” Ledge says, his words tumbling out in excitement.

“Ok, what would you like to do first?” I ask, excited too.

“A venture!” Ledge exclaims, “And we need nacks!”

“An adventure and snacks, got it!” I repeat back to him.

Ledge grabs my hand and leads me into the kitchen. He opens the refrigerator, jumps up, and sits on the inside of the door with ease— goodness he’s getting tall. With his finger tapping his chin, he surveys snack options.

“I want dis, and dis, and dis.” He says, pointing.

“Ok” I say, giggling with him, “You get the backpack, and I’ll make the snacks.”

Ledge does as he’s told and hops down, runs to the utility room, grabs the little blue drawstring bag and comes back to load it up. So far we have fresh strawberries, sliced apples, and a two-pack of string cheese all arranged in baggies.

Ledge does not look impressed.

“Is this enough?” I ask, knowing full well what he’s going to say.

“No, Amma, we need lotta nacks” he says, his arms outstretched wide showing me how big the pile of our snacks should be.

I smile to myself as I make a peanut butter and honey sandwich, cut it into four pieces, add an orange, two pickles, and then look to Ledge for approval which he gives me. I’m relieved because I was running out of snack ideas. This kid!

Ledge adds three water bottles to the already packed blue bag and then, finally, we’re ready to go. I check to make sure I have my keys and phone, and then we step from inside our house, into the outside world where adventure awaits!

I let Ledge lead the way, this was his idea, so he gets to decide what we’re doing.

“This way, Amma.” He points to the right, and I follow along.

We have rules on our adventures. Ledge walks alongside me on the sidewalk, and he can walk ahead but if he gets too far I whistle my ear-piercing-glass-shattering whistle (for real, you’d be impressed) signaling him to stop until I catch up. It’s taken some practice, but Ledge understands the rules and follows them like a champion.

Before we start walking, I ask Ledge to turn his listening ears on— with both hands raised up to his ears, a quick flick of his wrists and a click of his tongue, and his ears are officially turned on.

We take inventory, him giving me a thumbs up as I call out each item:

Snacks? Thumbs up.

Listening ears turned on? Thumbs up.

Attitude of gratitude? Ledge giggles and gives me a thumbs up.

And off we go!

The first street we cross is right next to our house. We look both ways and I ask him, like I always do, “Is it safe?”

Ledge surprises me when he grabs my hand, “It’s safe, run, Amma, runnnnn!” With sudden urgency we scramble across the street, running fast as if dragons are chasing us. Once on the other side, Ledge dramatically wipes his forehead with his hand, “That was a close one!” he exclaims, and I’m not sure what was chasing us or what bullet we dodged but I’m here for it and gladly play along.

“It was a close one! Good thing we run fast like the wind!” I say.

Ledge smiles in delight. We walk quietly together until he spots steppingstones arranged in a zig zag row along a neighbor’s driveway. He hops on one foot, from one stone to the next, until he crosses them all and when he’s finished, he glances over his shoulder at me.

“Your turn!” He shrieks.

“Ok, here I go!” I say, hoping the neighbors aren’t watching because we’re basically in their yard and I’m not sure if that’s cool or not.

As I’m navigating the stones, Ledge stops and corrects me, “No, Amma, like dis!” he says, and demonstrates hopping on one foot.

It’s not easy, but I manage. When I’m done, he gives me a gloved high five.

“You like doing that?” Ledge asks, his eyes squinting from the sun as he looks up at me.

“Yep! I do.” I say smiling at his precious, thoughtful heart.

“Why?” He asks.

“Because I’m with you, Ledge.” I say, honestly.

“Why because you’re with me, Amma?” He asks.

“Because I think you’re super-duper fun and I like going on adventures with you.” I say.

Ledge seems pleased with my response. He giggles and then starts skipping, stops to glance back at me, then waves for me to follow along.

I’m starting to catch on— everything Ledger does, he wants me to do too.

We skip, walk fast backwards, sidestep, hop on one foot, then two feet (it was not easy, but I gave it my all) and then it was time for snacks.

We plop down on the curb and Ledge digs into the drawstring bag, pulling the snacks out one at a time.

One water for me.

One water for Ledge.

Two strawberries for me.

Two strawberries for Ledge.

One apple slice, and one quarter peanut butter and honey sandwich for me, and the same for Ledge.

Did I want the peanut butter and honey sandwich? No.

Did I eat it anyway? Absolutely I did.

An older woman drives by—when I say older I mean my age. Anyway, she slows to an easy stop and rolls down her window.

“Are you two ok?” She yells from her car.

Ledge gives her a thumbs up and yells back before I can, “Me and Amma are having nacks!”

I nod and smile, she smiles too as she’s driving away, then yells back to us, “Have fun!”

With our bellies full, Ledge jumps up, signaling that it’s time to go.

We pass by a house in our neighborhood that’s under construction. It’s been neat for the boys to see the big tractors, cement mixers, and other fun-to-watch equipment they’re using as they remodel. When we walk by, Ledge notices everything and likes to talk about the changes he sees.

“Look, Amma, the cement is on the ground and it’s dry now!”

And the next week, “Look, Amma, they’re building a pool!”

Today, Ledge notices the big mound of dirt that was piled high in the front yard two days ago is now gone. Curious, he walks over to check it out.

He high steps, tip toeing lightly on the dirt, then shifts his gaze to me, holds his finger up to his mouth and whispers, “Shhhhh, Amma. Let’s be quiet!”

I quickly fall in line behind him, walking softly, careful not to make any noise wondering where this is going, and then, as if discovering a hidden treasure, Ledge suddenly drops to his knees, his face close to the ground inspecting something in the dirt.

“Come see, come see, Amma!” He whispers, waving me over.

I rush over beside him and look at the paw prints he discovered.

“It’s a paw print, Ledge.” I say, matter-of-factly.

“It’ a bear print, Amma,” He responds, looking around cautiously, as if we might be in danger.

“A bear? Are there bears here?” I ask, amused by his wild imagination.

“Yes.” He says with certainty, “Bears come from the forest.”

“Yes, that’s true, but are you sure it’s not a dog print?” I ask.

“Dogs are here, Amma, and bears are also. These are bear prints.” Ledge says, with the certainty of a man that lives in the wilderness.

We mosey on, have some more snacks, talk to the cat in the driveway that always seems to be there when we pass by. Ledge gets excited when we see the cat, but the cat is a cat and could not care less about us.

Next, we visit the house a few blocks down that has white, cement Lion statues perched on both sides of their driveway. Years ago, when Ledge and I were walking, the owner came out and gave Ledge permission to sit on them whenever he wants to. It’s become a highlight of our walks.

Like always, Ledge climbs up and sits on each of the lions. He raises his arms in the air, clenches his fists, lifts his chin, puffs out his chest, and roars mightily. Ledge cuts his eyes over to make sure I’m watching which I am. He smiles at me, a victorious-I-just-conquered-the-world smile, climbs down, and we continue our adventure.

We take another break, finish the snacks, and I notice a chill rising in the air—it’s getting late.

“Hey Ledge, we better get back if you want to play ball because I need to take you home soon.” I say.

Ledge grabs my hand, “Ok, Amma, let’s run fast!” and so, we do.

We run home with the sinched bag flying behind me, my keys jangling in my pocket, our cheeks flushed from the cool air, and our hearts pounding in excitement.

Out of breath and smiling, we walk into the house, drop our stuff, he goes to one bathroom, I go to the other and by the time I’m back in the living room, Ledge is waiting for me with a baseball, bat, and a soccer ball in hand. Apparently our adventure is not over yet!

“Let’s go play outside, Amma!” he shouts with absolute glee.

I follow his lead to the back yard where we finish up our adventure, and yes, we still have our gloves on.

We take a few water breaks in between batting, running the bases made of rocks, and take turns kicking the soccer ball against the side of the house. We’re both smiling and giggling and having the best time.

Just as the evening sun begins to sink low in the sky, my phone rings. It’s Jessica Ann.

“Hows’ your adventure going?” She asks.

“Great!” I say and mean it.

“Dinner in ten minutes if that works for you.” She says.

“Yep, we’ll see you in a few!” I say, and let Ledge know it’s time to clean up and get going.

Ledge puts all the toys away and together, we unload the sinched up bag full of empty baggies, crumbs, and crinkled up napkins. Once everything is done, we sit together on the floor and put our shoes on. I yawn a few times, and Ledge starts twirling his hair—an indication that we’re both tired.

“Amma?” Ledge says quietly, “Can we go on another venture?”

“We sure can.” I say, smiling.

“Soon?”

“Yep, soon buddy.”

“Tomorrow?” He asks.

“Probably not tomorrow, but really soon.” I say, enamored with him.

“Maybe in 1,2,3,4,5 weeks?” He asks, holding his ungloved hand up, his fingers spread wide as he counts.

“For sure!” I say, laughing and thinking how much I enjoy my precious grandson.

“Otay” he says.

I’m not kidding he really does say it that way and it’s the cutest thing ever.

We pile back into the car, and as I’m buckling up, Ledge looks down at my glove that he’s still wearing and says. “Amma, Ledger would like to take this home.”  

Have I mentioned that he refers to himself as Ledger? Yep, he does. This kid is so entertaining!

“Ok. You can have it.” I say, watching his face light up.

“Ledger can have it every day, all the time, everywhere?” He asks, his eyebrows raised.

“Yes, Ledge, every day, all the time, everywhere, you can have it.” I repeat back to him, doing my best not to laugh.

“Woohoo!” He whispers, under his breath.

“But you can’t have Daddy’s, because he needs it for golf.” Ledge says, and when I start to take it off he stops me.

“No, Amma, we’re still on a venture so take it off at my house, otay?” He asks.

“You got it!” I say, securing the glove for the last few minutes of our adventure.

On the quick drive to his house, we talk about our day. He reminds me to be careful and watch out for bears and to never touch cactus plants because it might prick me. We talk about running fast like the wind, the cat in the driveway, the bright colored flowers, steppingstones, warm sunshine, skipping and hopping, the lions he sat on, the snacks we ate, how hard he hit the ball, and all the wonderful details of our perfect adventure.

When we pull up to his house, this time it’s Dillon and little Leo waiting for us in the front yard.

“So, I guess Ledge is a big guy now, eh? Just calling Amma and making plans all on his own?” Dillon says to me, his face beaming with pride for Ledge.

“Basically, yep!” I respond.

Dillon glances at my hand, “Uh mom, why are you wearing my golf glove?” He asks, with a confused look on his face.

Ledge and I meet eyes— he flashes me a knowing smile, like this is just between me and him.

“Long story,” I say to Dillon, and wink at Ledge. Reluctantly, I give Dillon back his glove and Ledge gives me an approving nod.

I hug and squeeze sweet Leo, hug Dillon, and then turn to Ledge, kneeling down in front of him so we’re eye to eye.

“Thanks for the adventure today, Ledge. It was fun.” I say, my voice cracking with emotion that came out of nowhere.

“Thanks, Amma, it WAS fun!” he says, twirling his hair again.

Our goodbyes are lengthy, they always have been.

We fist bump, high five, put our fingers together and say “boop” when they touch.

I ask, “All systems go, Ledge?”

He smiles, showing all of his pearly white teeth and gives me the last thumbs up of the day, “All tistems go, Amma.”

“I love you” I say.

“Love you” Ledge says back and hugs my neck.

“God bless you” I say.

“God bless you, Amma” Ledge says.

My eyes fill with tears as I watch my son with his two boys waving goodbye to me as I drive my tired self back home, my heart overflowing with love.

Why am I sharing this story? I’m not sure.

Maybe it’s because the world feels divided and angry, and I was hoping it would make you smile.

Maybe I share it as a reminder that time is precious and it’s important to spend it with people we love.

Maybe my story will encourage you to say “yes” to the small, sweet things even when you’re tired.

Maybe it’s just comforting to know that you don’t have to buy toys or go to fancy places or spend one single dime to have fun; kids want our time and attention most of all.

And maybe it was simply a special day, and I wanted to share it with you— just because.

Listen, there’s a lot going on these days and I don’t have answers to the division and hate that being spewed out among us, but I do know that God is still good and that there is joy and beauty to be found every single day, we just have to look for it.

Also, some advice from a skilled adventure-er…

Take an adventure whenever you can. I had worries running laps in my mind that day when Ledge called—they all floated away like dust in the wind when we were playing. And remember, an adventure is whatever you make of it. No youngsters in your life? No problem. All you need is someone you care about, lots of good snacks, listening ears, an attitude of gratitude, and most importantly, everyone must wear a glove. Just one, though, definitely not two. Ha!

Of all the thousands and thousands and thousands of days Ledger McKnight has ahead of him, I hope he’ll always remember this one. I sure will.