Que sera sera

Aayu sat in front of the music system, punching buttons.

Anu: What'r you doing, honey?

Aayu: Shhh, don't disturb, this is ATM. I'm taking money.
(All those green and red LED numbers flickering on the console, I guess)

Anu: Really? *smiles at the li'l one's imagination and goes hugs her*

I watched them quietly from the couch.

Some day, my little one will indeed be drawing real money from a real ATM. When she was an infant, I yearned to hear her talk, walk and generally do all that a kid does. Now she talks nine to the dozen, doing things that make my teeth go all tingly with fatherly affection. Tomorrow she'll grow up to be a sensible & beautiful young woman, having her own life to lead, her own responsibilities towards the world at large. *Sigh*, she'll never be my li'l aayu again. One I used to 'see-saw' on my legs, one who used to swing on my arm, one who'd mistake me for a mountain and go climbing right atop my head (no kidding), the one I'd seat on my palms and play 'spring chair' with; one who climbed my tummy middle of the night and slept, clutching me; one who rode on my back, playing 'elfy elfy'; one whose million dollar smile would immediately make all my worries look like chicken-feed.

I think I understand grandparents a whole lot better now.