Grandparents have such an important role in the lives of all children. It is shown in the unconditional love, laughter, and joy shared during each and every meeting. I was lucky enough to grow up with all four grandparents, growing special bonds with them in very different and unique ways. However, it wasn’t until I had children of my own that I realized just how important the role of grandparents, and now great grandparents were in the life of a child, and even more importantly, vice versa.
Both my parents and my in-laws will tell you that becoming grandparents was absolutely amazing. You can see it when any single person asks them about any of their grandchildren. Before they even begin to answer, their face instantly lights up. The smile is completely genuine and full of excitement. We are lucky enough to have both our parents help with daycare so both my husband and I can continue to work. My daughter and son genuinely enjoy getting to spend so much extra time with their grandparents.
The most interesting discovery for me was seeing my daughter’s relationship with both mine and my husband’s grandparents. Every Thursday she informs my mom that they will be going to see great grandpa Donohue (my maternal grandfather) that day. She is greeted like a celebrity at his assisted living facility. She hops on to the front of my grandpa’s walker and he pushes her from room to room while she chats it up with each resident. She has been gifted a harmonica from one resident that she regularly plays along with my grandpa.
She also acts as Assistant Exercise Therapist, walking around the circle tapping the knees of the residents that are refusing to lift their legs to the music’s beat. My other grandma (paternal side) recently was moved into the same home. My daughter now gets to visit them both. She informs me that Grandma Sarb likes to brush her pretty hair. To see a room of residents, that all suffer from some form of Dementia, light up when they see my daughter, truly makes me feel blessed not only to witness the relationship my daughter is able to have with her grandparents, and great grandparents, but the joy one little person can bring to a room full of strangers.
Up until the day he was born, we had a completely different name picked out for our son. It was on the day of his birth, we looked at him, and just knew, we were going to name him after Poppy, my husband’s grandfather. Poppy passed away just 1 week after. It was a great feeling knowing Poppy was still around to know his namesake would be carried on. While our son won’t know Poppy like our daughter was able to, he is able to carry his name with him. Having to experience death for the first time, even only at two years old, I know my daughter does not fully understand what death is, but I know she does understand that person is gone. She has mentioned that she misses Poppy and one day even told me that she knows he is watching her from the roof. I looked at her confused and she explained that her Mimi (my mother-in-law) explained that Poppy is always with her and is now with Grandma up in Heaven. I smiled and realized that in my two-year-old’s wonderful imagination, Heaven was this beautiful place up on the roof.
I have such amazing childhood memories of times spent with my grandparents. But, it is in times and moments like these that I realize these memories are not just reminiscent of great times but they helped to shape who I am today and are helping to shape who my children will one day become.
