From the Publisher: Life is just Grand

Our lives have completely changed. And I’m not talking about Covid-19. If you know me, you probably knew this was coming.

We are GRANDPARENTS!

One morning in May, I woke up with the sweet man I married more than 27 years ago…that night, I went to bed with a grandfather! How in the world? I remember hearing my parents and grandparents talk about how fast time flies, and boy, they were right. I told my son he won’t really know this for a few decades, but someday he will understand how young his dad and I really are.

One of the things that happens when you own and publish a magazine is having the prerogative to choose the subject of your column, and what I want to do is tell you about the 7 lb, 9oz lump of sugar and sweetness that has entered our lives. I would have done this in our Milestones section, but it was full (and that’s a good thing!), so please indulge me!

Walker Hayes Altom was born May 5, 2020 to Marshall and Kathryn Altom.

Grandparents are Sheri and Scott Miles and Wes and Karen Altom. His great-grandparents are Betty Jo Stevens, Don and Lana Plunkett, George Miles, and Greg Sawka. He was born on Cinco de Mayo AND Taco Tuesday, so we expect him to love Mexican food as much (or possibly more) than the rest of his family.

Since this is our first grandchild, we had to choose grandparent names. I chose Sassy. (I’ve been told numerous times it was a very appropriate choice.) Wes has been more difficult. He said Walker could choose. Our daughter (and proud aunt) Abby told him he had to choose SOMETHING, otherwise, we would say, “Look, Walker! Go to “HIM”!” ?

He wants something “different” – so much so that he even considered “Granite,” because he saw it on a list somewhere. While we DO consider him the ROCK of our family – we are not excited about that name. So in the meantime, we are just calling him “G”. We are also open to other ideas, so you’re welcome to share!

Walker doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to say our names, so we plan to just spend a lot of time loving on this precious gift from God. There will be many stories told in many families about the time spent in quarantine – this will always be our favorite.

Until next time,