I consider myself lucky in the fact that I have all my grandchildren living within 45 minutes of my home. I can’t imagine it being any other way. I have 5 grandchildren, 3 girls and 2 boys, from the ages of 2 to 12.

I am the mother of four sons, so when the granddaughters came first, it was quite a difference for me! All that pink and purple, learning to braid hair, and making sure their laced-edged socks were turned down evenly was a learning experience! I have always been a ‘tomboy’, so these things didn’t matter too much to me.

Being a grandparent is a reward from God for the trials we go through raising our own children. With grandkids, life isn’t so fast! I have taken delight in watching them find dandelions that have gone to seed are fun to blow; their first experiences with ‘bubbles’; their faces chasing a bouncing ball; the continuous laughter as they try to catch leaves in the fall wind; and watching them as they sleep. If we all could sleep like they do! Completely safe and very deeply, innocent of what the world can be like.

As they grow it is amazing how fast they learn and what they remember. One of my granddaughters knows for a fact that she’ll be having pancakes for breakfast. Another is eager to learn how to make cookies from scratch versus cutting them from a ‘log’. My middle granddaughter still talks about the first time she ever tasted homemade bread was at her Mammaws’ house. I don’t think I have to put into detail about the first time they used an electric mixer! Watching the two-year-old grandson as he learns to put even more words together to make sentences and listening to the 4 ½ year-old grandson who has to tell me in 60 seconds or less everything they did in pre-school that day.

Just recently, we had 4 of the 5 grandkids stay the weekend (all but the two-year-old). Noisy? Yes. Busy? Yes. Lots of laughter? Definitely! And when their parents came to pick them up Sunday afternoon, it was too quiet – but a nice ‘quiet’ as I finally got to sit down and smile thinking of the past few days. No, I don’t take them to McDonald’s. No, I don’t really plan anything for their visits. It’s just spontaneous – we go with he flow.

And I think they like it that way. I know I do.

That weekend, we had a beautiful Saturday, so we all went outside and picked up the limbs and sticks from the winds we’d had a few days before. We have a firepit in the backyard (a tractor wheel with old bricks surrounding it) and piled them all in there. Turned into a game seeing who could toss their stick into the pit from the farthest back. My grandson, naturally, just had to break a large limb into pieces by doing his ‘Power Ranger’ stomp! We’ll burn the first fire on a warm weekend they’ll be here so we can roast hot dogs and make s’mores for dessert.

I try my best to make sure they know that my house is where a kid can just be a kid. I do have rules - normal household rules. They respect that. I also insist that they use their manners towards each other, us, and anyone else who may drop by. I also do not give them my complete undivided attention when they are here. I mostly watch and learn from them the simple life lessons we all tend to forget – watch out for each other, laugh as much as possible, and use our imaginations to take us places we may never see.

Yes, having the privilege of being a grandmother is the sweetest gift from above!