Sticky Kisses and Warm Hugs

Reaching senior citizen status isn’t all that bad . . . for the most part. Oh, sure, your mind is still operating on twenty-year-old time, and your body can’t keep up. Staying awake to catch the eleven o’clock news is a challenge. Going into a clothing store and trying to find clothes that don’t make you look like a teeny-bopper with liver spots is almost impossible. The trips to the beauty parlor to cover the increasing amount of gray in your hair are becoming more frequent. You can’t recall what you had for breakfast or where you ate it. Getting up slower to give your joints time to kick into action mode is a must. And Aleve has become you bedtime companion.

But there are perks to passing the half century mark. Marvelous perks. For instance: special discount rates in stores, people getting up to let the “old lady” sit down, and discount rates at Disney World.

But there’s one perk that senior citizenship brings that can’t be beat – grandchildren. From the moment the utter their first cry, your life changes in a glorious way. Along with that blessed advent come more perks:

When they get cranky, you can send them home

You can feed them junk food and don’t have to pay the dental bills

Daddy buys their first car and pays their college tuition

You get to cover a wall with a never-ending supply of baby pictures, then school pictures, then wedding pictures

And babysitting appointments take up more room on your calendar than doctor appointments

Your name turns into various forms of the word grandmother, such as: Nana, Grams, Gran, Granny, Memaw, Mawmaw, and the list goes on. My grandchildren call me Ahmah, except for my youngest granddaughter who calls me Ahmee. I love this name because it sounds like the French word for beloved. Grandfathers also have an array of aliases: Gramps, Pepaw, Pap, etc. My husband is called Papa by our grandchildren. Except for the youngest who, like her mother, calls him Popie.

But the best perks are showered on grandparents in the form of bright smiles, giggles, warm hugs, and the loving kisses that grandchildren seem to come equipped with an overabundance of and a never-ending generosity when handing out to Gram and Gramps. Nothing compares to having a apair of tiny arms wrap around your neck, a sticky kiss planted on your cheek and “I love you” whispered in your ear. Nothing.

I recently learned that I may become a Great Grandmother in the coming year. I have to admit, I can’t wait. It will mean shopping in the baby departments that I normally pass by with a longing look, and new pictures to bore all my friends with. But most of all, it will mean a new supply of those warm hugs, happy laughter, sticky kisses and more “I love you’s.”

I also have to admit that what did shock me was the realization that my “baby” would be a grandmother. Wow! Talk about being smacked upside the head with a 2×4! How can this be? I just gave birth to her yesterday. She just took her first step and got her first tooth. Her dad just gave her away to the wonderful man she married. She just gave birth to her first baby.

Once I reconciled myself to the inevitability of this, I realized that she was about to experience the first miracle and delights that I have already experienced four times over. I can not think of a better gift to give us in the golden years.

Happy Grandmothering,

Diva Elizabeth