A Second Chance

In my last blog update, I wrote about how many of my friends and family members have become grandparents for the first time.  That got me to wondering:  when did we become old enough to be grandparents?  When did that happen and why didn’t I see it coming?  How is it possible that one day our children are babies and then they are having babies of their own? Where did the time go?   I guess life happened and, just as every generation of parents before us, we were busy too living life to notice the years marching on.  Maybe that’s the real reason we are given the opportunity of becoming grandparents:  it is a second chance to slow down and enjoy the children in our family and to see life through the eyes of a child.

At family events over the past few years, I have realized that I am witnessing generational passages. Our children are graduating from high school and university, finding the love of their lives, beginning their careers, and having babies.  How wonderful to witness it all and now to be a part of the lives of their children, the next generation.   It seems like it was only yesterday we were holding our own children in our arms and now we are holding their children. Families grow, husbands and wives are introduced into and become a part of the family circle and new babies begin to appear. The next generation is on the move.  

How fortunate for us that we are given that second opportunity to really enjoy the lives of the children we love; and children are fortunate to have that unconditional and total love.  There is an immense bond between grandparents and their grandchildren.  Children often lament that their parents never let them get away with or do the things that they let their grandchildren do.  Perhaps it is because we have “mellowed-out” a little.  Perhaps it is because we know that in the blink of an eye, these precious little people grow up and begin lives of their own.

We will, no doubt, tell our new mothers and fathers to slow down a little and to take the time to enjoy their children however they will – like every generation before them – live busy lives  and suddenly find themselves with grown children.  But it’s all right, in twenty or thirty years, they too will get a second chance - when they have grandchildren of their own. Enjoying our time with our special little ones . . . it’s a good thing!