Being Grandma

Grandma. Nana. Abuela. Big Momma. Madea. Noni. No matter what your grandchildren call you, I’m sure it’s like music to your ears.

This whole grandparent thing has always been a bit of a mystery to me. When my children were born I had the occasion of witnessing another type of rebirth – of my parents! Yes, the people I had grown up with who routinely told me no, couldn’t seem to muster up the n-word when the request came from their grandchildren. Who were those people, I often wondered. How could such tiny beings manipulate the stern, hardened people I knew as my parents? It was a phenomenon. Now that I have a grandchild, I completely understand!

I recently heard my daughter tell someone that she couldn’t believe she had given birth to her replacement. No comment.

There is no describing the feeling I get when I look into my grandson’s beautiful brown eyes as he grabs my face with his chubby hands and plants a slobbery kiss on my cheek (or nose or chin - depending on his aim). Sigh…

Aside from the extreme cuteness factor, I have so many hopes and dreams for this little guy, much like I had for my own children. But this time it’s different. Call it wisdom, age, or even life experiences. Knowing what I know now, after raising my kids and doing the best I could for them, I get another chance. Because I don’t have to take life so seriously now, I can do things differently than when I was raising my kids. I get to help mold my grandson, buy him loud and ridiculous toys, love him unconditionally, feed him ice cream even if he doesn’t eat all of his dinner, and spoil the heck out of him. This is going to be an amazing adventure.

Look out, world, here comes Grandma!