It Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This
The love you take is equal to the love you make ~ The Beatles
Not long after my second son, Dylan (left), was born in 1982, I was proudly walking him in the baby carriage with his two year old brother Josh (right) by my side. I remember feeling like I had struck it rich. The blessings I felt as a mother were compounded by having two sons in tow. My own mother had nine children and one of her favorite complaints, said in exasperation was, I only have two hands. I remember thinking that two was a manageable number, seeing as how I had two arms, one for each of them.
It turns out that many of the clichés about the stages of life are actually true. When Dylan was twenty, I watched him walk to his car with a knapsack on his back on his way to live in Roanoke and was caught off guard by how hard it hit me. Then I remembered some of those clichés and thought to myself, ‘But of course. He’s my baby. The last to go. I’m normal after all.’ Now my baby is a man with a baby of his own.
I’m beginning to understand some of the cliché sayings about grandparenting that were previously lost on me, like the part about all the fun and spoiling you can have with your grandchild without the day to day work of raising them. I’d love to raise another child and I would if I had to, but the truth is I don’t have the energy anymore to match what it takes. It feels like a gift to spend time with my grandson and then let him go into his daily life, knowing he is being well taken care of by his parents.
The best part of being a grandparent is the realization that the investment of time and energy that you made long ago as a parent has paid off and multiplied. Not only do you find a new love in your grandchild but your love for his parents grows. Love pays dividends. Everyone in the family gets a share. And the sense of fun and play that a grandchild brings out in you takes the sting out of accepting the reality that you really are old enough to be someone’s grandparent.
Video clip: Uncle Josh reunites with baby Bryce 6 months after his birth HERE. Bryce plays to the beat of his own drum HERE.
November 29th, 2008 6:49 am
Happy for you!
November 29th, 2008 9:55 am
What a wonderful day..there looks to be a lot of love in those photos!
November 29th, 2008 9:57 am
I just watched the videos. You really have turned into a grandmother! How sweet Bryce is and you looked like you were having as much fun as he was.
November 29th, 2008 9:58 am
Joe snapped the first one and I didn’t really get what it meant until later when I looked and it choked me up. Do I look like the proud matriarch or what?
November 29th, 2008 10:04 am
What a heartwarming entry. I miss those days when our children were young. This choked me up too. I hope soon I will be a grandmother……Look at Byrce in the family picture, he can’t keep his eyes off of grandma. xo
November 29th, 2008 10:08 am
You’ll make a wonderful grandmother, She! And you’ll catch up. I remember when you had Andrew first and I fell in love with him and he was the one that made me want to have children too.
November 29th, 2008 11:06 am
Wonderful photos…how happy you look!
November 29th, 2008 3:00 pm
I feel the same way, Colleen, and it was especially true on Thanksgiving.
November 29th, 2008 5:05 pm
Beautiful. What a lovely family. I hope you had a great Thanksgiving and will have a wonderful Christmas.
November 29th, 2008 8:17 pm
bryce movies…oh, goodie! :))
thanksgiving in living color!
November 30th, 2008 6:12 am
This is what life is all about for most of us. Seeing our loved ones face the same challenges and enjoying the same treasures. Looks like you had a lovely holiday.
November 30th, 2008 12:49 pm
I really love that first picture of you, Josh, Dylan, and Bryce. You look so proud and content. Reading your post makes me start thinking I-Wanna-Be-A-Grandma thoughts, though my children aren’t even married yet!
December 1st, 2008 6:56 am
I agree, it doesn’t get much better than having your kids and grandkids around. Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving!
December 1st, 2008 4:01 pm
What a heartwarming set of pictures. It is such a blessing to see a collection of pictures of a happy family. My mother echos your same sentiments about being a grandmother. As her granddaughters have grown older, she enjoys them more and more!
December 3rd, 2008 10:16 am
Lovely to hear. You’re living the luck you made.