A few weeks ago, our daughter, Delanie, and her husband, Jordan, stopped by to see Diana and me.
They had an announcement to make…
A BIG announcement.
A REALLY BIG announcement.
The kind of announcement that changes EVERYthing!
Our baby is going to have a baby!!
The sweet child of mine is gonna have a sweet child of her own!!
That means…
WE ARE GOING TO BE GRANDS!!!!
They told us and the floodgates opened and liquid joy leaked out of my face, it often does.
After wiping my eyes, I saw a look in my Daughter and Son-in-law’s eyes.
I recognized the look.
It was the wild eyed combo of panic, joy and more panic.
“OOOHHHMYGOSH!! IS THIS REALLY HAPPENING!?? We…don’t…know…if…We are REALLY ready for this!”
I understand that look.
We had it 23 years ago and We’ve had it a lot since then. It’s the look that most parents have for at least 18 to 20 years.
It’s the look that says I’m not sure I can do this and it scares the crap out of me.
Most really good things start out completely impossible and totally terrifying.
Life happens when you least expect it, and almost never when you are ready for it.
They will do fine.
It won’t be easy.
Impossible, terrifying things are never easy, but they are worth it.
As I’ve thought about this…
The floodgates opened and memories leaked out of my heart, they often do.
I thought back to when WE were NOT ready to have a kid and it didn’t really matter if we were ready or not, BECAUSE, it WAS happening.
We had a baby, we managed to raise her without screwing up TOO bad.
And now, she is all growed up!
And now, she is AWEsome.
AND, now she is having a baby!!!
it IS happening!
I remember…
I remember Diana craving tomato sauce and Mexican food. I gladly accompanied her to Casa Bonita. I took a tamale for the team.
I remember being insecure, scared and clueless.
But, in one moment, those feelings got muted by an instant love that was brand new to me. Love is usually a process of getting to know someone and a series of choices that you make to get to know them better. THE minute I saw my kid, it was over, I was instantly in love with her. My sister, Hope, was with us in the delivery room, taking care of business like always.
I remember our friend, Debbie, patiently coaching me through changing my first diaper. It looked like crude oil.
We couldn’t afford a baby, we had about 17 bucks in the bank.
But, God provided in incredibly creative ways.
He still does.
Family and friends gave us baby stuff and lots of advice. Our Aunt Diane bought 6 months worth of diapers! That was an incredible bottom blessing! (See what I did there?)
We didn’t know what we were doing, we called my parents every half hour…”IS THIS NORMAL?”
A few times, I’m pretty sure they broke land speed records getting over to our little house to help us more than they knew. It’s amazing that it’s only when you realize that you are helpless that you realize how much help you have.
Speaking of our little house, I remember discovering black mold in the little parsonage where we lived when we got home with our new baby…that was SCARY!
I remember being scared a lot. We were just sure that we were going to break her. Somehow, we got her through infancy.
I guess we did fine. The proof is that now, we get to be grands.
I’ve learned that kids are impossible and terrifying and tough and awesome and more fun that I can imagine.
And now, I can not wait to play with MY grandkid!!
I’m ready to teach him or her the fine art of mischief. We are gonna get into some serious trouble together. We will make some memories and live some stories.
I can’t wait to embark on this grand adventure with my best friend and our grand friends, Phil and Tabetha Daughtery.
We are going to have a seriously grand ole time!
Side note: I’ve learned that you need to pick out a “grandparent name”, nobody is JUST Grandma or Grandpa anymore. You can be Nanny, Poppy, MeMaw, Paw Paw, Me Me, Pee Pee, G-Ma or some easy to say variation. You could wait for your grandchild to give you a name, but that would take a while and you would probably end up being called “DOG” or “NO”.
I’ve decided I want my “grandpa name” to be Big Papi. I like the sound of that, it makes me sound like a Hispanic man with connections to the underworld.
carbonated joy 