Question: How does it feel to be a gramma?

Gramma’s Answer:

Inside each of us is a self.  You have one.  It’s like a blank canvas when you’re born.  It comes with a few outlines like a picture in a coloring book, but you don’t have to stay in those lines all the time.  You keep adding to the picture as you mature—adding more colors, textures, shapes, darkness, and light.  The self-picture is never finished.  Sometimes you scribble out lines you didn’t like and start a new shape.

By the time someone becomes a grandparent, there are lots of layers on his or her picture.  Underneath, that same old self keeps looking out at the world, wondering what will come next.  No matter how old a person becomes, he or she still feels the same little self who is often surprised at how fast life zips past.

Becoming a grandparent requires that somebody else gives you the gift.  Usually, one of your children has to grow up and have a baby and be willing to share it with you.  Not all grandparents are happy with the gift, but lots of us are—especially when the grandkids are happy, emotionally healthy people.  They remind grandparents of what we felt when we were newer, and they’re fun.  Most grandparents are very thankful to be able to share the joy and love of the younger members of the family.

I feel a lot of responsibility as a gramma.  I want to give my grandchildren the best of myself.  I want my grandchildren to remember me as someone who helped them know dreams take work, but work can make dreams happen.  I want my grandchildren to know my love is bigger than living.  I can be disappointed now and then, but I can never stop loving.

Being a gramma feels good.  It’s a special time you wish could go on forever, and it will in its own way.