This is from May 19, 2008.
I had no idea how much my life would change when I became a grandfather or how wonderful it would be. I remember my own mother telling me that grandchildren were the bonus in life and when our children were young I couldn’t conceive of the idea that one day they too would be parents. Well, time and human nature have a way of bringing the recurring reality of life home to each of us. As I write this our grandson Kaj is sleeping 10 feet away from me and in our bed. At first he would struggle over his daily nap, but now at18+ months we have developed a rhythm that makes it a little easier on both of us. First we go into his uncle’s old room which still contains some of the artifacts of an adolescent past. We tickle the gorilla on the shelf which then moves around and sings two verses of the Macarena, wave to the blue Elvis Presley clock on the wall, the one with Elvis’s legs swinging together as a pendulum, a souvenir of a trip to Graceland in Memphis. We play with uncle Sean’s five soccer trophies and one lacrosse trophy moving them from the windowsill to the floor and back again. We do that a couple of times before moving into Grandma and Grampa Don’s bedroom. “Gramma” and “Grampa” were too hard to pronounce so we have become “Ugglik and Don”
We sit on the bed and the realization of what’s happening results in a little fussing, though soon eased when the bucket of wood trains and a wood bulldozer emerge from grandma’s side of the bed.
After we play with them, we have a song, a story and a snuggle, the last of which results in a little more dispirited fussing and then off to sleep.
As I get to this point in writing, Kaj has been asleep for 45 minutes and shows no sign of awakening. I figure he’s good for at least an hour and a half.
You can’t imagine the joy and fulfillment of being a grandparent unless you’re one yourself. And you can’t mention how you look forward to the hour or two when you’re own offspring’s offspring takes a nap.
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