I have been a grandmother for more than a month now and it is time for an update. Since June 5th it seems like we’ve transcended into a new world. Fran, Josh and Zach live nearby and so we get to see them often. Last week, Fran and I went to BabiesrUs and the supermarket while my husband, Hugh, got to be the first babysitter. He did a great job, of course, and I am jealous as I have yet to have that “Just the two of us” experience.
A favorite activity for Fran, Zach and I has become to take a walk in Verona Park. We enjoy meeting lots of other mothers and grandmothers doing the same thing. Zach enjoys the walk but gives us a “What is going on?” look when we have a short distance of sidewalk to pass that is sort of broken up.
Today my husband took almost a hundred pictures of Zach on a blanket in the yard and this is the one Fran chose to have on his birth announcement. I liked another one better where he didn’t have his tongue out but the tongue look seems popular around here. The one I liked didn’t have both hands – and his hands are sooo cute.
It is a wonderful experience to hold, feed, change a diaper, talk to and play with your own grandchild. Everyone loves babies, but he isn’t just a baby. Zach is connected to me in a way that no other person in the world is. Sometimes when I look at him I am so conscious of that connection. And I am anxious to explore all the things we may enjoy doing together. I know there will be experiences where I get to re-live time I had with my own children and that Zach will introduce me to new experiences.
I hope he is interested in some of the stuff I have in mind. How long will it be until we can visit The Newark Museum and then the American Museum of Natural History in New York? Will he be interested in going in to NY with Grandma and walking up to TKTS to get half price tickets to a Broadway show – I know that is farther off. My son loved doing that. Whenever we go to the Jersey Shore I absolutely covet the ability to build sand castles with a child and I am already plotting that activity for a couple of years from now. Will he be interested in playing the piano? I’ll be happy to get him started. Will he be interested in hitting a few tennis balls with Grandma? There are tennis courts in the park.
For now I am happy to settle for simple activities like taking a walk in the park and watching him grow and enjoy life everyday. When I’m around Zach it seems there is a perpetual smile on my face. No wonder.
Marion
