This is my fourth try at this particular post. Wish me luck!
What happened this fall is complicated. Along with all of the craziness of sending my youngest child to high school, an unexpected event occurred.
My oldest daughter, the one who celebrated her wedding the summer before in a lovely park by their house, delivered her first baby. It was a cause for celebration and happy feelings.
It was also a cause for worry and concern because this new grandchild of ours was born very early.
What happened this fall is pretty much a blur. It seemed like I was always going to be visiting a hospital, worrying over the parents and the baby, and getting on my knees every chance I got to beg the assistance of God.
And then one blessed day in November he came home.
I remember the first time I visited him there. It was a relief and a great joy to be at their house watching my daughter and her husband care for their son. At one point my daughter went into their kitchen to warm up a bottle. “I want to spoil you, I want to give you the moon!” she said to him as she left the room.
This is what she has been doing. The two pound tiny preemie has turned into a very chunky 5 month old baby. He is happy and content and is cooing and laughing out loud. When his mom is in the room he mostly has eyes for her. She is the light of his life.
The feeling is mutual between them. She is a beautiful mother, selfless in her love for her new baby. Their love for each other is palpable, and infectious. It gives me much pleasure to watch my daughter become a mother.
Maybe someday when my grandson is a young man I will tell him how much he scared me when he was born, how I almost didn’t believe he would ever get out of that hospital.
Then again, maybe I won’t.
The Last Lap (and what comes next) 