Monday, April 2, 2012

The Perils of Grandparenting

When I became a grandparent, it was bliss at first sight. It still is. But, it has had some continuing bumps and grinds, (not with the object of my abject affection, for sure!) but with The Parents, one of whom is the fruit of my womb. That is surely a run-on sentence, but you get me, right?

I saw a poster on Facebook recently whose message I wanted to emblazon on a t-shirt, make into a bumper sticker, print and hang in my kitchen or just plain blurt out to everyone or anyone who would listen. It reads:

"The reason grandchildren and grandparents get along so well is that they have a common enemy."
  ~Sam Levenson


This post came about because of toenail and fingernail polish. I thought I was doing a nice thing, looking for some way to bring pleasure to my 29 mo. old granddaughter on a rather dismal weather day. She loved it and was sooo incredibly patient about waiting for it to dry and being careful not to use her fingers or hands too much immediately following. She seemed to understand all about what I was telling her and she was so thrilled with the final result. I texted pictures to various interested parties, and got some widely varied feedback- some good, some not so. I felt terrible and wanton and irresponsible for my actions. It had seemed such a simple thing. And don't look too closely- I can see now I did a sub-par job! But, that's the nice thing about 2-3 year olds- they don't care, yet, that you aren't perfect.


Grown children can be brutal sometimes. I saw another quote that nailed my feelings after today's events -

"It's one of nature's ways that we often feel closer to distant generations than to the generation immediately preceding us."  ~Igor Stravinsky


Do I hear any "amens?"

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