Ten years ago this week, we became grandparents. Johnathan Richard Smith gave us this title with his birth. Since then we have been blessed 5 more times.
What is it to be a grandparent? We’re still learning. But what we’ve noticed is that it usually means unconditional love given and received. It means sitting at t-ball games and football practices as children learn the fundamentals of the game. It means reading books and more books. It means watching Toy Story and Cars over and over again. It means attending dance recitals and musicals and holding your breath as they come on stage. It means changing diapers with a smile. It means an occasional overnight guest. It means interesting conversations and occasional meltdowns. It means biting your tongue when you don’t agree with parental decisions, and biting your tongue because you weren’t a perfect parent either. It means an opportunity to watch in a more detached way as a special human being grows and develops and struggles toward maturity and adulthood. It means dreaming for their futures and worrying for their futures and grieving for those whose future will never be.
Johnathan was born three days after 9/11. It was a note of hope in the midst of despair. It was an affirmation of life in the middle of death. It was a peace in the midst of turmoil. We’re happy to be here to celebrate him and all our grandchildren.
October 25, 2011 at 9:45 pm |
What a sweet photo! Such little BIG blessings they are!