Revenge can be sweet

     "So what did you do Friday night?"  
     "Oh just sat around watching a baby wiggle."
Yes when you become a grandparent that's the type of activity you find entertaining. Our daughter Casie had the first grandchild, Miranda. She was also the first for our son-in-law Art's parents. Needless to say we were all very excited. We were finally able to see her in California when she was six weeks of age. 
     Casie and her husband had not had an evening out together since the baby was born.  So the four grandparents volunteered to babysit while they went out to dinner. Now at six weeks babies don't do a whole lot. If they're not eating or sleeping then they're laying in one spot looking around and randomly moving their arms and legs, basically wiggling. For several hours four adults sat and watched a six week old baby wiggle. You would have thought she was putting on an Oscar winning performance the way we oohed and ahhed.

Miranda at 6 weeks

     That was almost 8 years ago. Over that time we've had many great visits either in California or here in Wyoming and we Skype often.  I've enjoyed watching Casie and Art go from nervous newbies to confident parents. When Miranda was about a year or so old, Casie said to me, "Mom, now I get it." The 'it' being how hard parenting can be. I was glad to hear she was developing an appreciation of her fathers and my efforts as parents.

Miranda at 14 months

      But I have to say one of my favorite moments happened during a Skype session. Miranda was around two and she decided to have a toddler melt down. Casie and Art tried to reason with her. You can not reason with a two year old even under the best of circumstances. My husband and I started to laugh as we sat and watched from a safe distance. As they tried to deal with an out of control toddler, Casie said, "You don't have to laugh." With tears running down our cheeks, we replied, "Oh yes, yes we do."   Awe, yes, sometimes revenge can be sweet.

A cheerful 2 year old Miranda

A thought to ponder: Grandchildren are your reward for not strangling                                           your teenagers.


Participating in: Share the Joy

Asleep at the wheel

     I'm not wasting any time bringing out the pictures of grand kids. When people ask how I like being a grandparent I say, " I love it, I should have had them first". Only another grandparent can fully understand this sentiment. Having grandchildren is a very different experience than raising their parents. The thing to remember is, you can only get the best appreciation from another grandparent when talking about your own. You can talk to your non grandparent friends but very often behind that smile is gritted teeth and the thought "when will they stop with the pictures and stories". 

     The nice thing about this blog is I can tell all the stories and show all the pictures I want. And if you're one of those with the gritted teeth you can click on by.  Which brings us to the title of this post.

     A few years ago our grandson Rex received a drive able toy John Deere tractor. He loved to drive it around our yard, especially when his Poppy was mowing the lawn with his riding lawn mower.

        One day during a mowing session Poppy noticed Rex had started to drive erratically. He would stop then lurch forward, stop, lurch forward. My husband realized Rex had fallen asleep and his foot would jerk and push the go pedal. He called me to come and look. We both marveled at the fact that he could fall asleep while driving, John Deere can be proud of their smooth riding tractor. I of course had to snap several pictures before waking him.

      As you can see owning a good camera is essential equipment for any card carrying grandparent.


A thought to ponder: The speed of the car in front of you slows in direct proportion to how late you are for your appointment.


Participating in: Grand Social

A New Adventure

Welcome to my blog. Writing a blog has been on my bucket list for awhile but I never really knew how to get started.  Thanks to my friend Laurie, who inspired me with her blog (Mehitable Days) and gave me some hands on blog instructions, I'm giving it a whirl.  I'm not totally sure where this will go, it will be me just writing about things that strike my fancy in one way or another. I'm sure not everyone will agree with everything I have to say, but that's ok, just be nice.  Because manners are important (an idea for a future post). What follows below is something I wrote a couple years ago, it should get the ball rolling.

Bee checking out a pussy willow.

     Getting older has never really bothered me, it always seemed better then the alternative.  I was always mildly surprised when I passed another decade.  But turning 65 has turned the surprise to astonishment. How the hell did that happen. Maybe it was the arrival in the mail of my medicare card. There's plenty of over the hill jokes out there, but when the jokes on you it does make you sit up and take notice.

     I believe it was Anne Morrow Lindberg who said, "Sixty is the youth of old age." Well I get to be young again, even if it is a young oldster. From the moment we're born we're all headed in the same direction, toward death. Some reach it sooner then others. Most of us have probably heard, "live each day as if it were your last." How many of us really practice this sentiment. We're all too caught up in the business of life.  We believe we have all the time in the world.

     Well reaching 65 has brought home the fact that I don't have all the time in the world.  It's got me thinking about my life; what I've learned, what I haven't learned, what I've done and what I still want to do.

A thought to ponder: Sometimes you just have to buy the purple boots, even if the black ones would be more practical.