My eyes flickered open. Something was different this morning, but my sleepy thoughts couldn’t quite grasp what it was. The calm delight in my heart finally caught up with my brain, and I remembered the reason for my joy. Aidan, my precious grandson, slept soundly in the next room.

At 16, Aidan’s weeklong summer visits may — sooner than I would like — be crowded out by other activities. Girls and friends have a way of filling up a summer pretty quickly, but I hope he will just bring them along and crash at Nana’s house. With this in mind, every day is a chance to make memories so I set out to find fun things to do.

Excitedly, I perused the Internet and found several day trips I thought we would enjoy. Soon the house filled with the smells of bacon and biscuits. Thankfully, my scrambled eggs turned out light and fluffy.

When I roused Aidan from his sleep, he stumbled into the kitchen giving me a good morning hug.

“Something sure smells good, Nana.”

“Thanks, honey. Call Pop, and let’s sit down and say grace. We need to decide what we want to do today.”

Before breakfast was over we heard thunder in the distance. All the activities we really wanted to do were outside so this gave us a moment’s pause.

“Well, Aidan. It looks like the water park is out today. Do you want to chill around the house and maybe go to the movies this afternoon?”

“Sure, Nana. Sounds good to me.”

This scenario played out more than once during the week, but we still had a sunset cruise outing on the Biloxi Schooner planned.

Now that will be a special memory, even if the other things didn’t work out. It will be beautiful watching the sun set over the Gulf of Mexico. I can hear the seagulls calling now.

When I called the office to see about tickets, my heart sank. The schooner didn’t offer another sunset cruise until the third day of August! Aidan would be back in Tennessee by then. I began to feel a little bummed out about all the things we hadn’t been able to do.

My sweet grandson bounded down from his upstairs hideaway. Sheepishly, I apologized for all the things that just didn’t work out.

“Nana. It’s ok. I’ve really had a good time.”

I looked deeply into his face for disappointment, and I saw none. Over lunch, we visited and talked about this and that. Aidan headed back up the stairs to set up his new Fit Bit, while I straightened up the kitchen.

Slowly realization set in. My best memories of being with my own grandparents were not big outings or fancy restaurants. We pretty much stayed on the farm. We played outside, and laughed, and talked.

Will Aidan look back one day and fondly remember this visit to Nana and Pop’s house? I think maybe he will.

Jan Penton Miller can be reached at lilsisjan@yahoo.com.