Baby Boomers,
Do you ever wake up thinking about your grandchildren?
Up until a couple of weeks ago, I was watching my daughter's two girls, Annabell and Leila, three days a week while she completes her nursing degree.
Yes, it was tough breaking off on these afternoons to sit with the little rug-rats but it's an opportunity I wouldn't trade for all of the money in the world.
Well, as fate would have it, my daughter found a babysitter (a friend's teenage daughter) to replace me because she knew how busy I have been recently juggling this blog and my new career in real estate.
I have to tell you, it didn't take long for me to start "Jonesing" over being with them.
Then, as I lay in bed this morning, thinking my Grandpa thoughts, it made me sad that my other five grandchildren, Shaylin, Gianna, Frankie, Tristen and Kaydence are living so far away in Missouri.
It just goes to show you that no matter how far away they live, they all are always close to your heart.
What is it about your grandchildren that tugs so strongly at your heart strings?
To me grandchildren are meant to be all play and no work.
"Send em' home when they get cranky" is how the old saying goes, right?
However, grandparents should not miss out on the one of the greatest opportunities life has to offer them.
We are not totally expected to discipline our grandchildren and this gives us a special kind of relationship.
If you are like me, I work hard at convincing my children that "Grandpa" is the world's greatest child spoiler and I have totally forgotten the meaning of the word "no."
But there is a deeper communion in this familial syndicate that we have a tendency to overlook.
As they get older, grandchildren often rely on their grandparents when things get difficult at home.
Grandparents are a safe place for these budding tigers to look for reason, support and most importantly unconditional love in this very complex and complicated world they are experiencing.
Without them realizing it yet, our grandchildren know that we have some of the answers they are looking for, even if they are not the answers they are looking for.
And our kids, these wonderful young parents, often rely on us, without really realizing, to help raise their children and help them keep their sanity.
What a great job to be a grandparent.
Grandparents would do well not to squander the opportunities life has given to them.
So, I'm searching out what other baby boomers feel about their grandkids and I run across this poem written by a young girl named Jackie that I had to share with you.
Thank You Jackie!!
Just Like Him © Jackie
He taught me how to build a fire;
he gave me hope and desire.He taught me how to build a chair;
he told me that life wasn't fair.He watched every basketball game
and treated me like fame.He bought me ice-cream
and listened to my every dream.I talked to him everyday,
we never ran out of things to say.Without him I don't know who I'd be,
but one things for certain I wouldn't be me.He taught me how to be just like him,
and I already am within.
Go see your grandkids today if they are near or give them a call or send them a card or letter if they live far away.
Celebrate them!!!