Nana Joy

A big grin from a three month old chubby arm full of little girl, the words, "Come on Nana!"-- both of these expand my heart to nearly bursting. We have all heard that there is no joy quite like being a grand parent, but until we experience it, we can not know the full measure. I have observed friends who were quite good disciplinarians with their children absolutely dissolve when it comes to the desires of a grand child. I fear that I am no better.

We have been richly blessed by the addition of two little girls to our lives. They do not live close, so we get to see them on the average of about once every six weeks. That is about as long as Nana and Papa can stay away. Our visits are never long. We know that when we go, we disrupt schedules and we know that our children have lives outside of us. So, we plan short trips and relish the time spent with the little girls and with their parents.

My three year old beauty, Ava Grace, has taken me as one of her special people. She usually has a "shy" period when I first arrive at her house. I have noticed that the time is growing shorter each time I am there. Within two minutes on our recent trip she and I were busily seeing what we had in the Nana bag. The two tee shirts that we brought from our trip to Maine and PEI were examined and put away as were the shirts for her little sister that she took to Leila's room.

Before long, we were in the back yard blowing bubbles. I had found some fruit flavored bubbles on my last trip to the Dollar Tree. She chose lemon; I chose pineapple. I was amazed at how well she sent her bubbles floating into the air. Also, we didn't even have a major bubble spill. Anyway, we sat out under the umbrella under a clear South Carolina sky and blew bubbles, talked about the weather, watched the air planes, listened to the birds, and made memories.

Later she showed me her latest tricks on the swings. I pushed her as she called, "I want to go high!" We did the count down as I raised the swing as high as I could and sent her swooping through the air, blond hair flying and giggles sounding as she went back and forth.

At supper at one of our favorite hamburger places, Red Robin, we colored a little and again explored the Nana bag, finding a few more treasures from DT. These took up the tine while we waited for the food to arrive. On the way home, we enjoyed ice cream cones, hers with sprinkles.

On Saturday while her mommy and sister went to the grocery store, we shared some real quality time in the playroom. I dressed as a wizard; she as a princess. She showed me her musical prowess as she accompanied us to "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" on her small keyboard. We are hoping the neighbors enjoyed it as much as we did. We also enjoyed several quality cuisine items that she prepared on her kitchen unit. It is amazing that we were still able to enjoy the sandwiches later at lunch, but neither of us would want to offend the other cooks.

I think one of the things that makes these times so very special is that those of us who have reached the grandparent stage have already realized the brevity of the experience. What seems to be interminable when we are going through it, newborn, terrible twos, gawky kid stage, etc., actually passes quite quickly and like a bubble floating towards a blue Carolina sky is gone. At least when we have grand children, we get another glimpse into that magic. We get one more chance to be a wizard to the magic princess.