Tuesday, August 26, 2008

How to feel old without really trying

The first thing of course is to have offspring - these have a powerful tendency to age parents beyond their years without effort. Next, before you know it, grand-kids are beginning to sprout and one thinks back to those wizened old critters who, when we were still in knee pants, would visit and insist on doling out rib-crushing hugs and jelly-fish kisses. They were of course - GRAND PARENTS - and, for better or worse, we had morphed into just that! Even though, in our hearts, we were still lusty 28 year olds frozen in time at an age when everything worked as nature intended, a glance in a mirror told the daunting truth - we had become the current day wizened old critters.
After a little rationalizatio
n, things did not seem too bad, however. Grand kids have excellent petting zoo qualities - visit, indulge, leave - all without having to feed, clean or train. Better yet, grand kids have few reasons to hate grand parents and, from time to time, even show signs of friendliness. Not too bad, after all.
But wait, there's more! This
morning at 9:07 AM EDT, great grand kid #1 was born. With three generations in attendance, mother Amber, grandmother Martine and great-grandmother Marian along with 14 hospital staff, the ranting bundle known as Henry Hall slithered into the world. Weighing in at more than 10-1/2 pounds and just shy of 2 feet tall, I was really happy that my role was limited to staying home in case the phone rang - another lucky escape!
Amazing how complex birthing has become from the days when our kids were born at home with intermittent visits by the family doctor and a midwife who were tending to as many as four other births in the same day.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on reaching another milestone in the life of parents --- a great grandchild on which you can bestow all kinds of love and affections.

All the kids, grand kids & great grand kids will be a bus full on your first excursion with everyone to Disney Land ;-)

Pete said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Pete said...

Marian actually got in at the birth - I will get to see him when he starts school :^)

Vicki and Don said...

Congratulations on the "new" status! How exciting for Great Grandma! Over 10 lbs. What on earth was his mother eating - watermelons? Funny thing...my son was just over 10 lbs. All his life he was one of the skinniest kids in his class! He couldn't wait to weigh OVER 100 lbs! :-)

Linda and Andy Clarkson said...

Hi Guys,

Congratulations on your first Great Grandchild! Grandkids, and especially GREAT Grandkids, are the best - when you get tired you send them home - but then you will likely not get "tired" anytime soon.... We miss seeing you guys - hopefully our paths will cross before too much longer.