Sunday, July 12, 2015

Inspirational Sunday - Being a Grandmother


I love being a mom but soon enough kids grow up and you are just not as needed as you used to be. It is not the end of the world. You are still their mom but just not as needed as you used to be. It is amazing to watch them start their lives taking what you have taught them and learning new things. 

When our daughter first told us she was pregnant, I was overjoyed yet super worried since I knew this was a high risk pregnancy (5 years trying and first IVF attempt). I was there with her when the ultrasound first showed the heartbeat. It was amazing especially since this was all new to me - watching every step from conception. It really gave my belief that life begins at conception all the more meaningful. 

The night our granddaughter was born was another milestone. We got to hold her and that feeling of witnessing a miracle came over me and I fell in love again at first sight just as I did with my husband, daughter, and son.

Watching her grow has been amazing. She just turned 2 and is just as beautiful and ornery as her mother was. Sometimes she looks at me and I swear I see my daughter growing up all over again. This time though I get to be her grandmother and not her mom.

Being a grandmother means I don't get to put up with the day to day although I am slightly jealous of her other grandma who watches her Monday through Friday. When we see her once a week, it seems she has learned so much in that week. A couple of weeks ago I introduced her to nail polish and she is hooked and wants her nails polished every time I see her. We also have our special times of reading, snuggling, playing. 

When we are with her, she has our total undivided attention. I never had that with our kids. My husband's father was great with the kids but his mother didn't like me and we had to stop sleep overs at their house by the time our oldest was 3 and would listen to her grandmother tell her how mean and smelly I was and to say goodby to me because she was going to get rid of me. That is a very confusing thing to say to a 3 year old about her mother. When my husband and I confronted her, she became the martyr and ran crying to her room. We walked out - yes at Christmas. The kids were never allowed again to be alone with her. She missed so much and my kids missed out learning what a real grandmother is like in their lives. We also had problems with my parents - my father kept up his abuse pattern he had to me but projected it to our son. So no more unsupervised visits to them either. 

As I said before, our granddaughter has our undivided attention when we are with her. I know she is learning things I have taught her. She has developed a love for reading I think from me. Just this past week she signed the words I love you to me. I have been doing that with her since she was born. Signing those 3 words and then saying the words as I am signing them. This weekend she signed them back and repeated the words and then gave me the biggest hug every.

She has my heart. And as the saying above: "There is nothing like a grandchild to put a smile on your face, a lump in your throat, and a warm feeling in your heart!" Thank you God for allowing me experience this.

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