Written and Illustrated by Cathy Hartt
Maia-N-Isaac Positive Psychology Short Stories for Kids
Video version at bottom of blog
White was the color of Christmas Eve at Granca’s (that means Grandma Cathy’s) house. She knew the white of Christmas would be gone by noon on Christmas day, though, and that it would be warm and springtime sunny again. She sang a little Christmas carol to herself, as she packed her suitcase.
The cats watched, suspicious of the whole thing. Granca went to put a sweater in the suitcase,
but there was no room. “Hmmm,” she said
to herself, “I have only put a couple things in that bag. Why am I out of room?” Then she saw something like her sweater
moving in the suitcase, except it had two big green eyes. “Oh, Galveston, I can’t take you with me on
this trip. I’m going to visit my
California cousins on a big airplane.
You would not want to ride in that suitcase down the baggage conveyer
belt, I assure you.” Galveston jumped
out and watched from the corner of the room, frowning just a little.
When Christmas came, Granca got up way before the sun. She waived goodbye to the cats, and drove off
in her car, Mini Pearl, to the airport.
Mini Pearl was also a little sad because she had to spend Christmas in
an icy, cold parking lot. She preferred
road trips and would not even honk goodbye to Granca.
“Oh, Mini,” said Granca, you have a lot of cars here to keep you company. And I promise to take you on a long road trip to California in the summer, when the roads are not so slick. Mini watched her walk away. When Granca looked back at her, she swore there was a little tear under Mini’s eye. She waived goodbye and was sad to leave Mini Pearl looking so gloomy.
Then Granca got on the giant airplane (well, giant compared to Mini Pearl, that is) and flew for the whole morning. When the plane landed, she got out in a place that was warm and sunny. “Ah, I am in San Francisco, California” she thought.
Granca felt both scared and excited all at once, because she
hardly knew her California cousins. On the way to the baggage claim, she felt a
little sick to her stomach. But in a few
minutes, she was riding happily down the road with her cousins and her Aunt
Frannie to a special Christmas celebration.
Once they got to Aunt Frannie’s house, Granca got to visit
the garden. It was so beautiful that she
could hardly believe she had just left Mini Pearl in an icy parking lot. There were pink azaleas and geraniums blooming
outside, with water flowing in a three-layered fountain. In fact, there was even a tree with real
oranges hanging from its branches. “Those
are California ornaments, for sure,” thought Granca.
Granca was born in California and lived there for a short
time, once when she a baby and a once when she was a teenager. But way before that, her own dad was born in
San Francisco. That’s why she has very
special family to spend Christmas with this year – because her dad’s family
still lived in this beautiful place by the Pacific Ocean. Granca was always curious about her dad’s
family.
It was a fun Christmas day celebration. This family gave something called white
elephants instead of regular Christmas gifts.
When Granca first heard about the white elephant thing, she though an
elephant was too big to fit on the airplane.
Why, that’s bigger than Mini Pearl!
But she found out that a white elephant is really giving away something
you don’t want anymore to someone else. “Oh,”
thought Granca, “That kind of elephant will fit in my suitcase.”
The white elephants were hilarious. And, with the game, people take turns
choosing a gift . . . or they can steal someone else’s gift if they like what
someone else had already opened. Granca’s
Cousin Ted got a port-a-potty. That’s a
toilet that folds up into a little box. And
her Aunt Frannie got two really wonderful gifts that were both stolen by other
family. She ended up with a ceramic
lizard that she really didn’t want very much.
The white elephants were so hilarious, that they laughed and laughed
until tears came running down their faces.
After that, Granca started to feel more relaxed. “This family has the strength of humor and playfulness,”
she thought. After the white elephants
all had a new home, they ate German chocolate cake and then Granca went home
with her cousin Sherri, and Sherri’s husband Alberto, for a few days.
The first day, Sherri and Alberto took Granca for a long
walk on the beach. The waves were so
pretty and relaxing. The sun was so warm that Granca took her long underwear
off for the rest of the trip! It was fun
to look at all the birds. Sometimes,
they see dolphins and whales on that beach.
But not on the day after Christmas.
The second day was a magic because it was the day that
Granca met Sirena, the mermaid.
The day started with breakfast and lunch at Sherri and Alberto’s house
on the beach. But, then, in the
afternoon, they took a long drive on the beach.
They went to towns named Monterey and Carmel.
At one point, they stopped on the beach for
Granca to take pictures to share with her grandkids, Maia and Isaac. It was like no beach she had ever seen
before. It had beautiful rock structures
that looked like castles sticking out of the blue waves. There were all sorts of seagulls flying
around the rocks.
Granca walked down to the water to take some
pictures of the birds. And, that is when
she met Sirena. She thought it was a sea
gull squacking at first. She listened
more closely and it was a voice saying, “come here, come here.”
Granca went down closer and it looked like a
little blond girl in the water. In fact,
it looked a little like her granddaughter , Maia. Grandma did a little gasp. Then the little girl said “Oh, it’s OK. I don’t want to scare you. My name is Sirena and I am a mermaid.” “A mermaid?” asked Granca. “I have lived in California and I have never
met a mermaid.”
When she went closer, she could see it was a
real, live mermaid. Granca gasped
again! Then Serina explained that she
had come to find Granca because she wanted to meet Maia. Granca said, “My granddaughter, Maia?” “Yes,” said Sirena. “Why?” asked Granca. “Because I know you miss Maia and you want to
send her a gift to remind her that you are thinking about her.”
“Ok,” said Granca. “But you will dry out if I take you back to
Colorado in the big plane to mail.”
Sirena laughed, “That is why I am turning myself into a little doll that
you can put in your purse. No one will ever know I am a real mermaid, except
for you and Maia.”
And, with that, Sirena (that name means
mermaid in Spanish) became a little blond mermaid doll and Granca quickly
tucked the doll in her bag and headed back to find Sherri and Alberto. They got in the car and drove to the town Carmel to go shopping.
Granca still could not believe she had a
mermaid in her purse. Who carries
mermaids in their purse to go shopping, after all? Well, it was a good thing that Sirena was
there, because she pointed to a little alligator outfit for Isaac. I mean Granca was just walking down the aisle,
minding her own business, and that little mermaid almost flipped out of the
purse trying to get her to stop and notice.
Sirena told Granca that Isaac needed a gift
to tell Isaac that she missed him, too.
So Granca grabbed the little outfit and headed to the counter. Then Serina almost flipped herself out of the
purse to grab a special a special key holder for Granca’s daughter,
Stephanie. It had her name right on it,
too! “It is quite an adventure to shop
with a mermaid in your purse,” thought Granca.
Granca looked at the gifts, knowing she
wanted to savor this trip with her special
family. (Savor means to share smiles
about something you enjoyed doing.) “It
is important to savor things,” said Sirena.
It helps us to be happy, because we share our joy with others who we
care about and everyone smiles. So,
Granca bought the gifts, of course.
The third day, Sherri and Alberto took
Granca to the redwood forest. Those
trees are giant, I tell you. They are as
tall as a sky scraper in the city! All
Granca could think about was savoring her trip with her family so she took lots
of pictures to share.
Then, on the last day of her trip, Sherri
and Alberto took Granca to pick up Aunt Frannie for a special journey. They drove up the coast for a long time to
get to a beach house. There was a lady at
the beach house who was friends with Aunt Frannie and Granca’s dad and uncle,
Bert. That was cool, because the woman
was very old and wise to remember being a kid so long ago. She was 86 years old! That woman would need a huge birthday cake, I tell you!
Granca had put Serina in her purse, again,
in case she would like a trip to the beach house. There were a lot of people at the beach house
who where kids and grandkids to the woman.
People were talking and laughing.
That is when Granca heard Sirena talking to her. Granca looked at the doll and said, “I can’t
believe a doll is talking to me. You are
not a real mermaid anymore.”
Sirena looked kinda sad for a moment. But then she explained, “I must be a
mermaid. I have no fear of depth and a
great fear of shallow living.” Granca
scratched her head a little. “What does
that mean?” she asked. Sirena explained
that she was a teacher of living life in a way that made people feel really
close to each other. “People have to
tell each other openly, and without fear, how they feel about things that
happen. And when they do, they need to
be listened to and respected. Always! “Even
kids, like Maia and Isaac?” asked Granca.
“Especially kids, including Maia and Isaac,” replied Serina. "In fact," she replied, "They can always talk to me about anything because I'm not afraid of depth."
Granca felt good about having spent the day
at the beach house with her family, the wise woman and Sirena. After a couple hours, they drove back to
Sherri and Alberto’s house. On the way
back, they stopped in San Francisco.
Now, that city has class! There
are steep hills, cable cars and special chocolate! But the best thing of all
was a gargantuan, world famous bridge, called the Golden Gate Bridge that they
drove across in the car! It was an awesome site on Granca’s last day!
The next day, Alberto drove her to the
airport. Granca still had Sirena in her
purse. Well, that little doll came to
life again in the airport, I tell you.
She almost flipped out of the purse again when they got through the
baggage check point. “Sirena, shhhh!”
said Granca. “You are going to get me in
trouble for bringing a real mermaid on an airplane. Besides, you will dry out if you become a
real mermaid.” Sirena just smiled and
pointed to two things for Maia and Isaac.
One was a special San Francisco chocolate bar and the other was a Golden
Gate bridge toy.
“They can have fun sharing those,” said
Sirena. “The bridge toy is a good idea
for them to share, but Isaac can’t eat chocolate, silly. Don’t mermaids know anything about babies?” Sirenna laughed, “Well, I bet your daughter
can figure out who else Maia can share it with.” “Your right,” said Granca. And she bought the gifts.
After the long airplane ride home, Granca
was exhausted but Mini Pearl was all smiles when she saw her walking through
the parking lot. Mini honked
happily. That car has car-o-nality, I
tell you! Mini took Granca safely home,
as always.
Granca knew that her cat lady, Liz, had been
there to take care of the kitties. When
she opened to door, she didn’t see them at first. But she heard Serendipity singing for joy! That cat is so afraid when she is left alone,
even when Liz takes care of her. Granca
could not see the other kitties at first, but then she went into her room, and
there they were all snuggled up in her bed.
“Well, at least I won’t need my electric blanket to warm my bed tonight,”
she laughed. It felt so cold in Colorado after walking on the beach in
California.
She patted each of the kitties on the head
and then carefully lifted Sirena out of her purse and put her in a bag with the
other gifts. “I will be sending you to
Maia very soon as a way of savoring my trip,” said Granca. The little mermaid looked like a stuffed cat toy
that Sage might want to fish out of the drawer to play with, so she needed to
be put away safely.
Just before Granca closed the drawer that
she had put Sirena into, the little mermaid did a quick wink at her. Granca was glad she had picked Sirena and the
other gifts to share the joy of her magical California with her family, who she
missed very much. “Savoring,” she
thought, “is a good way of living life deeply just like a mermaid would want!”
The end.
