How Grand...

It turns out being a grandparent is sort of like the bonus round of parenting.  Even though you have a new model, the parts are more or less the same and the directions haven't really been revised all that much, so it is easier to relax and soak it all in without sweating the small details.  But at the same time, the problems, when they arise, are more complicated, and the answers are fewer and farther between.  When you are winning, there is absolutely nothing like it.  But when things go awry, it is excruciating in a whole new way.

Most people catch a cold or the 24 hour stomach flu.  Certain members of my family like to take that a little further.  We don't get colds, we go straight to pneumonia.  We don't get a 24 hour stomach bug, we are down for a week with The Flu.  We don't stub a toe, we break the whole foot.  You get the idea.

Unfortunately, the baby seems to have inherited the family penchant for medical drama. My infant grandson has been sick for days with his first real illness.  My daughter and son-in-law have handled the whole thing brilliantly.  They are calm, they are reassuring, they are doing exactly what they need to do in the situation.  They have taken wonderful care of the baby, and they are building bonds with each other as they negotiate the care of their sick child, who will certainly be on the mend in the next day or two.

I, on the other hand, am finding the whole thing rather difficult. I am 500 plus miles away, and watching my baby tend to her baby without being there to help has been... trying.  I cannot provide anything for her, other than a sympathetic ear and an occasional glance on Skype, which is wholly inadequate, as far as I am concerned.  (Please note, she is fine with this arrangement.  I am the one who is struggling with it all.)

I can offer a little experience, but without being there to assess for myself, I don't really know whether to panic or not.  (I do just out of habit, of course, but am trying to keep that to a minimum for my daughter's sake.  I do what I can to be helpful in these trying times.)

I knew, in an intellectual sense, that my grandson would be important to me.  But, just like becoming a parent, I didn't really comprehend how much he would become a part of me, to my very soul, and how much I would think about him and fret over him and enjoy having him in my world until he was here.  He has a unique and very special place in my universe, a place that no one else will ever hold.

Today I am grateful for my grandson.  He has changed the world for me, just by being in it.  He is renewal, refreshment and rebirth, all in one tiny, adorable package.  Bonus indeed!