Pure Joy!
I never knew grandparents so the best thing about these times is I know we are making memories. I know what we say and do will have a strong influence on them.
The thing about being a grandparent is the love is so unconditional, it's our only job.
I spent my first week with my granddaughter Mackenzie this summer. Because Mac is from Waterford she doesn't have friends in the neighborhood to play with so I signed her up for golf lessons. We gifted her with clubs for her birthday in April.
It turned out her teacher Lisa was her mom's highschool basketball coach. Small world. It was pure joy to watch her pony tail swinging as she carried her clubs to join a group she was unfamiliar with. How fast she has grown!
It seems like yesterday I was splashing with her in the plastic backyard pool. And it seems like yesterday when she was young enough to sit on my lap or hold my hand. It seems like yesterday I helped her mom teach her how to ride her bike.
It was pure joy to see her smiling face each morning at the breakfrast table. One day we made a cake for a friend of her mom's. Cooking and baking isn't my "thing."
I couldn't find our cake pan anywhere! She told me, "Nana you need pampered chef!" "I need more than pampered chef!" I answered.
I made a quick dash to the store to purchase a new pan. She watched TV while the cake baked and tested it once to see if it was done. It wasn't so after a few more minutes I tested it again and the door slammed shut! I haven't baked a cake in years let alone "flop" one. She couldn't believe the big hole in the middle of the cake! She laughed and laughed. "Oh Nana!" she said.
That afternoon we decided to ride bikes. She hopped on mine while I struggled to push the seat down on Pops bike. With the seat down all the way my feet still wouldn't touch the ground but I didn't have a choice. Mac told me to begin riding standing up and push off then sit down. Which I did and only fell twice!
Then there were the little everyday things that she noticed and kept track of over the course of the week. A stone left a crack across my car windsheild. I dropped my cell phone and it cracked as well. I lost my house key and had to get a new one made. Then I realized I lost my driver's lisence. Pops figured I never put it back in my wallet after taking it out at the airport when traveling the week before. I'm ADHD, did you notice?!
Jeez, Nana! She rattled off the litany of events all in one sentence! I said, "Now when you get home don't tell your mom and dad these things. Only tell them the wonderful things. Like when Lisa the golf coach said, "Oh I know you-I read your book! Again she laughed and I smiled knowing her parents would get a blow by blow of everything.
Her mom is "Susie Homemaker," the opposite of me. I knew she would take the "flopped cake" story home as well.
It was pure joy for "Pops" to take her to the movies twice that week. It was pure joy for both of us to be with her five days in a row. She brought a youthful playful energy into our home that has been absent since her mom and aunts left home.
It was pure joy to see the similarities between her and my daughter. It was pure joy to have her ask, "Can I buy something for my brother?" (while at the mall shopping for a jean skirt)
She's gone now. I'm storing enery for the final week of July. This time she'll attend basketball camp at Aquinas college. I'm ready for her. My windsheild and cell phone and drivers license have been replaced.
And our home will be ready for the youthful energy and love. Pure joy-that's what granddaughters and summers are for!
The thing about being a grandparent is the love is so unconditional, it's our only job.
I spent my first week with my granddaughter Mackenzie this summer. Because Mac is from Waterford she doesn't have friends in the neighborhood to play with so I signed her up for golf lessons. We gifted her with clubs for her birthday in April.
It turned out her teacher Lisa was her mom's highschool basketball coach. Small world. It was pure joy to watch her pony tail swinging as she carried her clubs to join a group she was unfamiliar with. How fast she has grown!
It seems like yesterday I was splashing with her in the plastic backyard pool. And it seems like yesterday when she was young enough to sit on my lap or hold my hand. It seems like yesterday I helped her mom teach her how to ride her bike.
It was pure joy to see her smiling face each morning at the breakfrast table. One day we made a cake for a friend of her mom's. Cooking and baking isn't my "thing."
I couldn't find our cake pan anywhere! She told me, "Nana you need pampered chef!" "I need more than pampered chef!" I answered.
I made a quick dash to the store to purchase a new pan. She watched TV while the cake baked and tested it once to see if it was done. It wasn't so after a few more minutes I tested it again and the door slammed shut! I haven't baked a cake in years let alone "flop" one. She couldn't believe the big hole in the middle of the cake! She laughed and laughed. "Oh Nana!" she said.
That afternoon we decided to ride bikes. She hopped on mine while I struggled to push the seat down on Pops bike. With the seat down all the way my feet still wouldn't touch the ground but I didn't have a choice. Mac told me to begin riding standing up and push off then sit down. Which I did and only fell twice!
Then there were the little everyday things that she noticed and kept track of over the course of the week. A stone left a crack across my car windsheild. I dropped my cell phone and it cracked as well. I lost my house key and had to get a new one made. Then I realized I lost my driver's lisence. Pops figured I never put it back in my wallet after taking it out at the airport when traveling the week before. I'm ADHD, did you notice?!
Jeez, Nana! She rattled off the litany of events all in one sentence! I said, "Now when you get home don't tell your mom and dad these things. Only tell them the wonderful things. Like when Lisa the golf coach said, "Oh I know you-I read your book! Again she laughed and I smiled knowing her parents would get a blow by blow of everything.
Her mom is "Susie Homemaker," the opposite of me. I knew she would take the "flopped cake" story home as well.
It was pure joy for "Pops" to take her to the movies twice that week. It was pure joy for both of us to be with her five days in a row. She brought a youthful playful energy into our home that has been absent since her mom and aunts left home.
It was pure joy to see the similarities between her and my daughter. It was pure joy to have her ask, "Can I buy something for my brother?" (while at the mall shopping for a jean skirt)
She's gone now. I'm storing enery for the final week of July. This time she'll attend basketball camp at Aquinas college. I'm ready for her. My windsheild and cell phone and drivers license have been replaced.
And our home will be ready for the youthful energy and love. Pure joy-that's what granddaughters and summers are for!
posted by Tess Marshall at 8:28 AM
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