Orange Buddies

From 2 to 82, ice cream is the generational equalizer.

Mason and Nana, best friends and orange buddies.

I scream.

You scream.

We all scream

For ice cream.

Ice cream is the generational equalizer.

It doesn’t matter if you’re 2 or 82 — there’s just something about sharing an orange buddy. With a buddy. Or your Nana. Or, in this case, a Great Nana (who also happens to be a great Nana).

My grandson, Mason, is 2½. My mom is 82½.

There is nothing in this world that brings me more joy than watching these two humans interact. Mason is very vocal and knows all the important words. Words like:

• Nana

• Come

• More (he can also sign this)

• One time (which I’m pretty sure means “one more time”)

• Side (for outside)

• Cha Cha (that’s me)

We’ve had several “play dates” over his 2½ years, and I swear each stage feels like the best one — because we get to witness it as it unfolds, moment by moment.

Last Friday, after a busy morning of cars racing down ramps and Duplo towers being built and then gleefully bulldozed, it was time for a much‑needed nap (for both Mason and Nana). She followed him up to his room, and he crawled into his toddler bed. She grabbed a pillow and blanket and settled onto the floor beside him.

I didn’t think he’d settle. But after popping up several times like a little meerkat to make sure she was still there, he finally curled in — and they both drifted off. Two and a half hours later, they woke up together, rested and ready for round two.

It was just an ordinary Friday in January.

And somehow, one of the best days ever.

As I watched Mason and Nana wake up from their shared nap — two dreamers from opposite ends of life’s timeline — I felt the quiet truth of it all. These are the moments that stitch generations together. I see the whole arc of a family, the wisdom of a life well‑lived meeting the wonder of a life just beginning. Grandparents give children a sense of where they come from; grandchildren give grandparents a glimpse of where we’re going. And great grandparents—well, that’s a whole ‘nother kind of magic.

It’s the extra in extraordinary.