Grandparenting ~

What a wonderful opportunity to pass things along, most importantly love and a bit of wisdom I think.  But I think a grandchild also reaps the benefits through observing grandparents' hobbies, passions, attitudes, and personality.  

I am lucky: fortunate to have had all four of my grandparents around until my early 30s.  I still have three here, and I guess you could say, they still have me too.  For as long as I can recall, back to about three years of age, I have memories of Grandpa and Grandma Kelly.  I remember when I was a toddler, staying with them while my brother had surgery, and one night they had some kind of ballet on tv (I'm guessing it was PBS - otherwise, there's never been much televised ballet.  Go figure).  The dancing they must have seen, for I remember hopping about their living room attempting a three year-old version of an arabesque pose and some ungainly plies.  Point is I have what I consider to be a special memory of my grandparents and just me.  Now, I have dozens more with my Gpa and Gma Kelly - but if I shared them all, this wouldn't be called a 'post', it would be an epic!

I learned so much from my Gpa and Gma Kelly.  As I mentioned above, love and some wisdom is what they've given me.  They also gave me their example, which is so cool!  And why grandparents are so important... I've watched my Gpa K be creative, funny, and incessantly curious about family history and history in general.  I saw my Gma K never give up (she's like a mini Winston Churchill.  It's important to know what he said, "Never, never, never, never give up" among many other worthy things).  My Gma K's version was this: If it is to be, it is up to me!   My Gma K has always been seemingly calm as well, and now that I am a mother I find that trait to come in very handy sometimes.  

I didn't really get to know my paternal grandparents until I was in my 20s, so I don't have many youthful memories with them.  They lived far away when my brother and I were kids, and we didn't get together much until high school / college.  Then I moved to the city where they retired, and as a young adult, was able to get to know them.  I've always wanted to travel, live abroad, explore different places, and learn about stuff and managed to do a bit of that while I worked in my 20s.  However, as I had the privilege of getting to know my Grandpa and Grandma Woolery, I realized that wanderlust was part of my nature (I'd inherited it from my Gpa W, I think)!  That was so great too - to know that as with my Gma K's attitude about life, I had my Gpa W's desire to learn and travel and learn some more.  That this quest to build a personal library, started in my early 20s, came from some gene from Gpa and Gma Woolery.  I have to say that the pride and joy of our family library is a first edition of "Atlas Shrugged", compliments of my Gpa K - so he's definitely no slouch when it comes to reading either!  (Try pounding out "Atlas Shrugged" and you'll see what I mean.  Incredible story with substance and awesome philosophy, but long at +1000 pages and deep, thought-provoking writing)

Now that I have a daughter, I realize even more so the importance and value of grandparents and their love and attention.  I say to my grandparents - Hats off to you!  I miss my Gpa W dearly every time I think of him and it breaks my heart that he isn't still here with us.  My Gpa and Gma K still rock.  They're in their late 70s, early 80s and every day they pop out of bed and get to doing something helpful, entertaining, and / or  beneficial for their own souls (they may actually get out of bed quite slowly at this point, but you'd never know it!).  I know my Gpa and Gma K are always here for us, and without them I would not have a major touchstone and healthy dose of love and humor in my life.  They know family is the bottom line, and that is pretty awesome that they shared that attitude with their grandchildren - as only those who know that golden rule would.  My Gma W cracks me up with her dry wit, and her amazing ability to be non-judgmental.  She has always opened her heart with love when I have an issue or problem, and she has definitely made my world a better place.  Gma W's judgements are reserved for gum chewing, too much focus on hair styles, and my comments to my baby daughter that "she stinks" - Gma W said I needed to watch my language there and I kind of agree with her in hindsight (I'm guessing that "language" didn't convey class or necessity of opinion, and she was spot on for letting me know).

Bottom line for me on this post is ~ Grandparents unite!!  No - seriously, I wouldn't be who I am without my grandparents' examples of character and knowing that some of my innate characteristics come from each of them.  It makes me feel connected, it makes me feel a part of something bigger than myself, and it lets me know I am loved without condition.  Now that I have a daughter, I wish the same for her.  And she is especially fortunate because she has three wonderful great grandparents as well (referenced above of course).  Right now, she has all four grandparents around too - and hopefully that won't change for many, many years.  So I say to you, grandparents of the world, take the opportunities you have to play with and nurture your grandchildren.  Be there to smile and laugh with them, to cry for them when they truly need it, to teach them about what you know and love, and most of all, to look out on the world with them by your side and let them know that the world is theirs to enjoy, explore, and be comfortable in.  

With much, much love to my Gpa K, Gma K, Gma W, and Gpa W. 

Yours, Julie