WHAT NO ONE TELLS YOU ABOUT

This major event has no celebration, 

Baby B.

no rite of passage to honor it.
I am not often asked how becoming
a grandmother affects my life or changes
my views of myself.
As a result I am left with many unexplained

Baby L.

feelings about the meaning of this profound
passage in life.  I must muse upon it on my
own.
I am a grandmother.  I have been one for 9
years!
No one consulted me in this role.
What am I going to make of it?
What are my hopes, dreams, and concerns
as a grandmother?
Babies don't come with instructions for 
grandmothers.
Grandma hood, we just don't talk much
about how it feels.  Oh, we show pictures and all
but we don't talk about how it really feels.
Really, how does it feel to have moved into
the next stage of life, as the oldest or almost
oldest generation in the family?
It's a sobering reminder of our own 
mortality, combined with the awesome
recognition that through our grandchildren,
our lives are extended into a future we shall
never see.

Christmas Advent Activities

I often wonder how much I will live to see.
These thoughts are coupled with a sense of urgency to spend time in prayer for them.
I want to make a difference.  I want to leave 
a legacy.  I want to interact with them as much as health and time permit.
  "Becoming a grandparent is one more of life's events that wakes us up to our age and where we are in the continuum of life.  Like it or not, it moves us along and makes us aware that we are advancing on life's journey."

Showing How It works

God has my remaining years numbered.
What is worth doing in those years?