Mayday, Mayday…Everything’s Grand!

Last May, I was swinging between two emotional extremes…and it was all because of one little boy.

There were tears and frustration because the little man was due to arrive at any minute and, thanks to the pandemic–nothing I had dreamed of, or planned for, could be reality. My imagined hours spent with Wes and I hanging out in the waiting room with the other set of grandparents was not to be. Instead, we would meet our grandson via a video chat rather than by walking into the room and actually holding him. The arrival of our first grandchild was not going according to my “grand” plan.

The other extreme I felt was that of unbridled joy. Because, it turned out that, whether we were in the room with that baby or seeing him on video chat, Wes and I were just as smitten and ecstatic as we would have been had we been there with them. Of course, we missed the actual physical hugs with our children, but those came…just a few days later…as did the never-ending minutes spent staring at that precious new face.

As we prepare to celebrate our Walker’s first birthday this month, we are reminded there’s nothing like having children in your world to help you realize how fast a year can fly by. And what a year it’s been! We’ve watched our children experience those special firsts–smiles, words, steps. We’ve watched their joy and excitement as they’ve called (and yes, video chatted) with us to share. We are reminded of when THEY were the ones taking those steps, and we were the ones calling our parents. But now, we’ve been grandparents…for a whole year.

What a wonderful world. Pandemic or not.

Until next time,
Karen Altom