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Last night I was on Zoom with my twin Grand-daughters, they live in Boston and I live in West Valley City Utah. One of them was complaining they had to share their room, with the other one.

As grampa I had a story to tell them of when I shared not just my room, but by bed with a new lamb. When I was about my Grand-daughter’s age, nine or ten, first day of summer break from school, my dad came home with a lamb that needed to be bottle fed. I had no particular plans for this summer, so I quickly said “yes I will take care of the poor lonely lamb”.

My dad handed me a large baby bottle with a nipple on, and a hand-written paper from the farmer with instructions on it. I carried the lamb to the kitchen, following instructions I made the bottle then took the lamb outside, sat down on the old couch on the patio and put him on my lap. It was not much struggle to insert the nipple in his mouth.

After eating I put his leash on and took him to the back-yard to make garden fertilizer. Then I we rolled around on the grass playing around, hearing my mom yell “come in and eat” I took him with me when I ate, he sat on the kitchen floor next to me. After we went to watch T.V. and he sat on my lap. I was on the floor. After watching Bewitched we went to bed. I made him a nice blanket bed next to my bed; but when I woke up, he was sleeping on my bed with me. I made his bottle and my bowl of Cheerios, before I could get outside, he started going potty on the floor and I hurried outside then fed him, then I ate.

Living next to a grade school every day I went there to play; so, I and Daren went there to play (remember we watched Bewitched, he really liked it so I named him Daren). A lot of grass for a little boy and lamb to play on with only a break for a bottle and a P.J. sandwich; we spent all day there.

Time flies when you’re young and having fun and it wasn’t long before he was off the bottle and leash and too big for my bed so I built him a barn (well really a shed to sleep in). In the middle of his first night in the barn I could hear him crying. I grabbed my sleeping bag and laid next to him in the barn. I like sleeping outside, in the barn it was cooler in the summer, and I was with my new best friend.

With a few weeks left of summer everywhere I went, he went; they would not let him in church but I sat by the window and he sat outside the window patently. Yes, everyone I know recited the poem Mary had a little lamb; changing it to "Terry had a little lamb".

That summer went too fast; I went back to school and my dad took Daren back to the farm with the other sheep. Sixty years later I still think it was a great summer, I don’t eat lamb; I still have a wool Scarf the farmer’s wife made me from Daren’s wool.