A New Day

There are things you dream about writing, things you hope you’ll someday get to tell the world, things that happen in your life that are so amazing and exciting and dream-fulfilling that you can’t wait to put them into words.

And then they actually happen, and you don’t know where to start.

So I’ll just say it plain and simple~

I’m going to be a grandmother.

Could there be a better gift than this hope for the future, this new life in a long line of lives, this fulfillment of a dream?

Though this part isn’t my story to tell, it has been a difficult road for my son and daughter in law, a road stubbornly filled with stumbling blocks and disappointments.  But now the path has cleared and come November we will welcome this long awaited addition to our family.

When you embark on the task of childbearing and childrearing, you take a huge leap of faith in yourself and the universe.  You hope the world will be a good place for your child to grow and live, you hope you remain alive and strong long enough to raise that child until adulthood, you hope  most fervently that your child is whole and healthy.  You say you don’t care whether it’s a boy or a girl (and I don’t!), whether she loves shooting hoops or dancing ballet.  It doesn’t matter if he becomes a doctor, a chef, a carpenter, or a poet, or whether her hair is long and silky black like her mothers or brown and slightly wavy like her fathers.

You just want to share the world with them, be able to watch them learn all the things you know and take for granted – how birds sound in the trees, the feel of the ocean lapping against your ankles when you walk the beach, the freedom in dancing around the room to music.  You want to open the world up and present it to them on a silver platter, invite them to reach out a small, chubby hand and take everything they want.

I’m beginning to realize that all those feelings are actually compounded when you contemplate becoming a grandparent.  Perhaps its because we know so much more than we did in the days we raised our own children.  We know how life can throw you a curve ball one day and hand you roses on the next. We’ve seen how dangerous the world can be, but also how magnificent.  Most of all, we know how quickly time passes, and how you must savor every precious moment, even when you’re sick to death of changing diapers, playing Candyland, or going to soccer games and school plays.

In the twinkle of an eye, it’s gone, and they’ve grown up and away. And you are older than you thought you’d ever be.

But right now I’m feeling young and renewed.  The last few weeks life has been handing me roses, and I’m enjoying that immensely. I’m also hoping this bouquet retains its sweet fragrance for a long, long time.

So I offer this song in honor of Brian and Nantana, and their baby.

A new day indeed.