I Get It

A woman friend from my prior church just said to me “We’re even.”  She said she used to feel guilty about talking to me about her grandkids all the time, but that I’ve made up for it with all I talk about mine now that I have some.  Ha! I suppose we are.  No matter how many people said, “You won’t get it until you have your own,” I didn’t get it.  But now I do.

We had three of our four grandchildren for two days this week and what fun we had!  Let me try that again…. We had three of our four grandchildren for two days this week and man, was that exhausting!  Both are true.  Dane is four, Scotty turns two next month, and Layla turned one this past weekend.  Evena, our youngest, will be joining our overnighters soon.  But there is something very special about setting time aside for the next generation.  I remember going to my grandparent’s farm as a kid and I always loved it there.  One of my favorite pics ever is of me and my brother sitting on the couch with my grandparents there; my brother and grandpa, then grandma and me. 

It’s not like my grandparents could set everything down and just play with us, or that we went or did anything special.  We just got to live a moment in time with them in the midst of their lives.  It was precious time, considering they both died before I was twelve.  I have no grandparents or greatgrands anymore.  It leaves quite a hole.  I don’t know how much time we’ll have with our grandkids, but I do know I will be seizing every moment I can with them, while I can. 

I told my kids we’d be packing and the grands could help.  They laughed at me.  My daughter-in-law said Layla would unpack as much as I packed.  She was right.  But we had fun anyway.  I got a whopping two boxes packed while they were here.  I think Layla was up to seven Easter baskets full of paper grass, one drawer and one cupboard emptied.  I suppose she did win.  Oh, yah, she also emptied three boxes of toys.  She definitely wears the crown.

The kids also helped me rake leaves off of one of my flower gardens and dump all the leaves into the woods behind our home.  We took time to play a little baseball and golf in between.  I also got to sit on the yard swing with Layla for a while as the boys preferred to sit in the sandbox and toss dirt at each other.  We ate ice cream and caramel corn (shhhhh… don’t tell their parents), and of course fed them plenty of fruits, veggies, and their own organic milk (which their parents sent along).  We watched “Little Mermaid” (Dane’s pick) just before bedtime and I was blessed to tuck each one into their makeshift beds one by one over the evening.  I love staggered bedtimes.  That special one on one time with each child is priceless. 

I have heard grandparents complain about their grandkids, and even have seen some yelling at them or telling them they are stupid.  My heart breaks for those kids.  I pray my grandkids will remember me with the same warm heart that I remember mine.  Nothing that gets broke, gets spilled, or gets left on the floor is worth breaking a heart over.  As my grandfather used to say, “It ain’t arms or legs…”  I suppose if we would have lost one of those, I may actually have been placed in time out.