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| Grand-parenting is a new life chapter for me. |
I have the gift of spending many hours a week with my grandson. Like all children, he is a precious gift to me and to the world.
I love watching him develop. It's amazing to witness his natural instincts to grow and develop step-by-step.
When I'm with him, I mostly let him lead me. I am basically his servant that responds to his natural needs and requests. He climbs on me, looks at me for reassurance, talks to me, and relies on me to help him when he needs my help.
I love setting up little challenges to see how he reacts. For example, I might put a small ball in a container to see if he tries to retrieve it or line up his stuffed animals to see which one he chooses. I also entertain him with music, dancing toys, tossing balls, stacking blocks, stories, and lots of conversation.
Sometimes when I am with him, I think about the fact that I will likely not know him for his entire life, and that makes me want to give him what I can now to help him live a good life over time.
I had the luxury of having loving relationships with all four of my grandparents. I spent many an evening with Nana across the street. She clearly loved me and comforted me with many loving comments and stories as well as sharing television shows and snacks with me. I especially remember attending church with her during the special Easter masses. Her husband, my Papa, only lived for my first five or six years, but during that time, I clearly have many memories of his loving ways. I can picture him sharing my first bites of seafood with me; I can see him sitting on his easy chair eating black licorice; I remember him working in the yard and returning from a fishing trip with friends; and I still can hear his loving voice in my memory. My Nana across town had a warm, welcoming home that we visited often--we always felt right at home there. I remember her completing her crosswords, talking about her favorite shows, and engaging the adults around us. Her husband, my Grampy, was always a loving man who I remember most for holding babies as he sat on a rocking chair at every family function. People with babies would come through the door and automatically plop the baby on Grampy's lap, and the babies were always content there. I also remember his great love of baseball. My parents clearly loved their parents, and I remember that love well--I felt it, and that likely fueled my desire to build a strong, loving family myself.
Being a grandparent is a new chapter for me--a chapter that has reset life's schedules, attention, and focus--it is a gift that I never imagined to be as wonderful as it is. Onward.
