One more reason to purchase a Hallmark card
Today is Grandparents Day.
It was almost 25 years ago.
I was just a few weeks shy of my first year of widowhood. I had purchased a home, my youngest child had married, and I was settling into a life much different than I had envisioned.
Because I was a Vistakon employee, I had the privilege of shopping in the J&J Company store. I was visiting my daughter, Renee, when she handed me a piece of paper containing a list she had made.
It was innocuous: Q-tips, Tylenol, No More Tears shampoo, Johnson & Johnson Baby Powder—a name my first grandchild could call me.
And so it was, on June 1, 2000, a date that would forever be etched in my heart; my first grandchild was born. I was delighted. Happy to have a granddaughter - but happier that Renee, who had loved babies since she was not much more than a baby herself, had the opportunity to be a mother.
Then, when that granddaughter was about nine months old, I kept my little Amazing for about four hours, and I've never been the same.
With the arrival of each new grandchild, my heart expanded with love. Each one brought a unique joy and a deeper understanding of what it means to be a grandma.
Early on, I determined that I wanted to be the fun grandma. A friend suggested that I be called Grand, which made sense. Grandma seemed like an old person.
That is until my third grandchild was born, and her daddy, who loved his grandma (my mother), wanted me to be Grandma.
It really doesn't matter what they call me - as long as they let me "love on them."
I had one "fun grandmother." She loved pretty clothes, shoes, and laughter. My other grandmother was stern, even though she was very hospitable and kind. In her later years, she also loved pretty clothes.
Grandmother took me shopping. Grandma held my wedding reception in her home and focused on my yellow color scheme when she planted yellow dahlias that could be seen from the dining room. I'm pretty sure that the Paula I am today is a little like Lonnie and also a little like Pauline.
My second granddaughter was about 7 when she encouraged me to write a blog. I knew I couldn't include my grandchildren's names in anything I published.
She suggested, "Here's what you should do, Grand.
Give us a name that says who we are."
Her idea was that she would be Awesome, and she continues to represent that word greatly.
One more note about this grandma thing. Although this is not something I am proud of, I was very jealous of my mother's relationship with my first child. Recently, I had a little ah-ha moment when I remembered that my mother might have been just a tad jealous of my relationship with Daddy's mother (whom I called grandmother). And, truth be told, my first child has a daughter—and now I get it.
I was not a person who longed to be a grandmother.
However, I cannot imagine life without the joy of being Amazing, Awesome, Graceful, Terrific, Effervescent, Caring, and Radiant's Grandma.
Being that in their lives is plenty!!!
They can save their money!
May you have enough sunshine in your life to make you appreciate the shadows
