Over Easter, we spent almost two weeks visiting my husband’s family out of town. Three days after we returned home, my parents, who live out of town as well, came for 10 days. It’s been a month of grandparent-heaven for my kids and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Growing up, I lived within three minutes of all of my grandparents. For those of you who grew up in the country, you’ll appreciate this distance measure: I was only 1 field away from my grandfather’s farm so we saw him quite often. My other grandparents lived in the town only a few minutes away.
We would see them after church, at Sunday dinner, after sporting practice at school while we waited for one of our parents to pick us up. Nanny took us to dentist appointments (after which we got ice cream!) and grandma felt we never ate enough – so she cooked for us constantly. All four of them fed us a plentiful diet of love.
Being so close to our grandparents (my husband was extremely close to his as well), I understand the importance of this relationship in the lives of my children. My son, now two and a half, worships his grandparents. He talks about them all the time – different stories relating to each. My mother-in-law stayed with him while we were delivering the Girl, my parents always babysit when they’re in town so they can have some one-on-one time with him (and we get some time alone!). It’s a relationship in which your parents (yes, the ones who gave you trouble for the exact same thing your kids are doing that is now ‘cute’!) and your children come together. It’s amazing.
Last year, we lost my father-in-law to cancer. It was a very hard year on everyone. My son was too young to understand what was happening, but we travelled every few weeks to see him. In that time, my son developed a great relationship with him and was able to see Grandma even more than usual. He still talks about Grandpa, wants to look at pictures of them going on the sled or taking a walk. But what will we say when he’s old enough to understand he’s not around? I find it unfair that he’s been robbed of that special relationship.
Fortunately, he’s too young to remember that pain and has his Grandma, Nanny and other Grandpa who are all special to him. Including them in our children’s lives is very important to us. The distance (since all of them live out of town) is hard to deal with sometimes, but that doesn’t lessen the closeness he has with them. The way he talks about them, you’d think they lived next door. This makes us very happy to see.
Yesterday, I visited my 87 year old nanny and 93 year old grandfather. Both are in poor health but seeing them (and how they enjoy seeing the kids!) is still very special to me. After all this time, even though I am now an adult with my own family, I still feel like a kid around my grandparents. To me, they will always be invincible, super-heroes of sort who offer unconditional love and cookies.
Grandparents (in most families I’ve come across) are central to the family unit. It’s a very special relationship between grandparent and grandchild – so different than parent and child, and I look forward to seeing my kids continue to develop this. The twinkle my son gets when talking about them is priceless.
So here’s to the greatness of grandparents! Our next visit won’t come soon enough.
