Grandma...

I can remember when I was a little girl I knew exactly what I wanted to be when I grew up...A GRANDMA!   Not a doctor, lawyer, or mom...but a Grandma.

To me they were the ones that had the better "gig".    My Grandma Bessie would dance with me on Saturday mornings while we cleaned her house or maybe just hung out.    The record player on her stereo would be blasting polkas or some other favorite music...she showed me the Charleston, how to two step, waltz, as well as other dances.   Grandma's if they chose to could wear their jammies or their lounging clothes all day.   When you went shopping I can remember going with my Grandma and her sister Reedie and laughing so hard as my great aunt sprayed me with men's cologne and said "smell like a man."   Such little things that seemed to bring home the fact that they seemed to have more time to have more fun than mom's.   And as I have now become a Grandma...I think that little girl knew what she was saying about the whole grandma thing.

I watched my own daughter bond with her Granny and now that very daughter has shared her precious little Isabel Marie with me...My Firecracker--Izzy!   Don't get me wrong I love being a mother and I love my kids so very very much but maybe it is because I just get to do the fun stuff being Grandma.   I am not the one who misses out on sleep, who when you have had a long day have to deal with a toddler who in a matter of minutes can pour water on a laptop, dump a trash can, color the kitchen cabinets all while other responsibilities seem to continue piling up.

But maybe being a Grandma just allows one the opportunity to pull up memories of the past while at the same time cherishing the present.   Taking those precious moments and tucking them away in your heart.  Knowing that taking that extra time with rocky-bye is much more important than the dishes or some other chore.   However, like I said, mom's have certain responsibilities that they are not always allowed the luxury of rocking a little longer of just sitting still and soaking it all in.   But somehow being a Grandma frees you from certain responsibilities and perhaps that is why God made Grandma's (and Grandpa's)...to help mom's (and dad's).  So with that I say hang in there...your day is coming!  Because in a blink of an eye your little ones are grown and you are getting to wear my shoes.   And what fun shoes they are...these shoes aren't made for work--they are made for play!

One of my favorite things is to "rocky-bye" a sleeping little baby girl.   And while those times don't seem to come around as often when she was just a little babe, we are moving on to new places--new chapters--that are just as special.   Now instead of just patting her heart three times from when we would sing Izzy Izzy Izzy and Grandma Grandma Grandma...she now is saying Grandma bye bye for rocky-bye.    She holds my hand and leads me to what she wants and before long she will just tell me.   And before I know it I might be riding with her while she learns to drive because she seems to be more okay with the fact that one certain granddaughter drove through her flowerbed and ran over her tree.   You know little things!

I am so thankful that Isabel has two parents who love her, four grandparents as well as aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, and even great-grandparents that seem to adore her.  I am also thankful that tomorrow is my Firecracker Flex Friday!    Since little Izzy seems to have decided to be extra bIZZY...her mama says "bring your A-Game"!   But A-Game or not...this Grandma gig is GOOD!
lyp