2024 Sunday — Family

I don't know much about algebra; I know a little more about history, but I know even more about grandkids . . . I know that they stole my heart and never gave it back. I'm always thinking about them.

“Grandchildren fill a space in your heart that you never knew was empty.”

My heart increased by at least the 50th power when our first grandbaby, Ashly, arrived. I had no idea that my heart could swell to that magnitude. I was 38 years old when she arrived. I thought I was not at all ready to be called "grandma." After she was born I really didn't care what people called me, I just wanted to be where she was. I wanted to hold her, hug her, feed her, dress her in cute outfits, and love her. She was five pounds at birth. We told her we had bought roast beef bigger than her. It was easy to go to the department store and lay down a paycheck to buy her every cute outfit I saw. Then the toy purchases were next . . . stuff animals and dollies.

And just when I was sure my heart couldn't love any more, our son's daughter, Desiree, was born. Two grand-girls five months apart. When we had the privilege of having both of them at the same time, I would dress them alike and when asked, I would say, "Yeah, they're twins." "Yeah, I'm their mom." And the giggles bubbled over as Mr. Fun & I strolled away from the asker. The summer they were both 2-years-old, we took them to a week of family summer camp without their parents. The experience went beyond the definition of "delight." I learned how to hold a toddler on each hip. The memory of that week is a treasure that Gpaw Fun & I will carry with us into Eternity. We will never stop thanking God for grandkids.

About the moment we settled into "comfortable" with two toddler/preschool granddaughters, we had the immense pleasure of the arrival of a grandson, Emerson. A blonde! We had one redhead granddaughter and one brunette granddaughter (who looked like us), and then a rugged little man-child; the littlest puppy. He thrived on toddling into the girlies dollie parties and throwing a babydoll half way across the room. It was just a hoot to watch the chaos he could cause. I can still hear the shrill scream of the girls.

Well the years have stacked and now all three of them are in their thirties. We are glad that we spent quantum time with them when they were littles. The two girls are married now with children and our grandson is an eligible bachelor. Currently they rarely see us.

“Side by side or miles apart, grandchildren are always close to the heart.”

We are the grandparents who moved away. We never say to them, "HEY, when are YOU going to come see us?" We know we moved; they didn't move. We realize they are busy. We realize the Central Coast is hours away. So on the rare occasion that we get to see one of them, we are filled with joy. This moment right now is one of those moments; we have gotten to spend a nanosecond with Ashly, our first grandkid. She is currently growing our newest great-grandbaby, a girl. Her baby will be born in November. Then we enjoyed the bonus of having lunch with Emerson.

We look at our three grandkids and in our minds we see and hear moments and memories that the grandkids can't even remember. They live in a world we hardly recognize, let alone understand. “I wouldn’t change my grandchildren for the world. But I wish I could change the world for my grandchildren.”

I'm thankful for the opportunities we have had to take them to church and to family camp. We know God loves them more than we do. We ask God to invade their lives. To chase them the way He chased us; until the sweet fragrance of life is so overwhelming that all they can say, like we said, is "I want that." God is that kind of loving and attractive. We think Earth time is very short. We want them to live forever in Heaven with us.

Watching our grands on social media is fun. So even though we are not with them physically, we get to see them; it is thrilling. The more extrovert ones are introvert on social media and vice versa, and sometimes they exhibit extrovert and introvert characteristics almost simultaneously. Watching their personalities is interesting. Wondering who they most resemble. Mostly I want to convey, I love our grands and great-grands. And yes, I want to show them off.

Rosie (& Mr. Fun), aka Carol
and Chloe & Mitzi too!

P.S. And yes, the photo is a screenshot from my social media.