Grandma goes Bowling with Grandsons

On Sunday I was feeling a little sad.  It was my husband's birthday Friday.  Tom has been gone 4 1/2 years now and sometimes sadness overwhelms me...it creeps up on me when I least expect it.  I try to shake off the feeling plus I keep telling myself that I have to live for the present.  Feeling blue only has one solution...grabbing a grandchild or two makes the blues immediately subside, so I decided to grab my two grandsons and go bowling.  It just so happened that my office was having a supper/bowling party and everyone, including grandchildren, were invited.

After church, I headed for my daughter, Mandy's house (yes, I'm the only one who calls my daughter Mandy and I will continue to my dying breath calling her Mandy!).  I needed a "Mandy moment" where I could stop and have tea and converse with my sweetheart of a daughter.  That always makes me feel good when I can talk with her; after all, she's my best friend.  As I open up the door to her garage, I notice no cars are there.  My heart drops...where are they?  I need a grandma moment and a Mandy moment.  Where are they?  I get into the car and decide to go hunt for them.  Just as I start the car, my daughter drives into the yard.  As I sigh loudly, I think of how blessed I am to have this wonderful family in my midst. As I head into the house with my daughter and grandsons, I am talking a mile a minute about the bowling party and asking Noah and Abram to go bowling with me.  Abram (4 years old) immediately says, "Grandma. me go with you!"  Noah (8 years old going on 12!), on the other hand, has to always think a few minutes and ask lots of questions to determine what he's going to do.

After two cups of tea and conversing with my daughter, it was time to go.  Abram bounded out the door with his giraffe in tow and Noah followed soon after.  As I was driving home, I winked at Noah (our secret code) that we all must lay down for a nap because grandma was tired.  Now Noah has been through this little scenario before and knows that when I wink, he chimes in that he is going to go for a nap because he's tired, too.  He knows that once Abram gets into the bedroom and closes the door, Noah can immediately get up and start playing.  Noah loves the "alone" time where he can play and watch TV without any interruptions.

Soon Abram is sleeping and I get up and begin to wrap all of the gifts for Christmas.  Every year I give the kids and grandchildren wicker totes which contain everyone's Christmas gifts.  That way they have something to transport their treasures home plus they can use them for storage.  It's a very efficient process when everyone opens all of their stocking stuffs from their totes and then immediately put everything back into these totes and carry them home.  No fuss...no mess!

As I was wrapping the Christmas gifts, I told Noah that Santa had already been to grandma's house but that Santa had to leave them unwrapped with me because he didn't have time to wrap them.  After all, I explained to him, Santa has an entire world to deliver gifts to!  Noah looked at me and I knew the wheels were turning in his head.  How could Santa come to grandma's house first?  Noah quickly asked me if I had seen Santa.  I quickly answered, "Sure, haven't you seen Santa?"  Noah replied, "No, but I bet he wears a red suit and is fat!"  I laughed.  Out of the mouth of children!

After I wrapped all of the gifts, I quickly woke Abram up and we went across the street to the bowling alley.  We ate to our hearts content and then decided to begin bowling.  Noah told the owner what size his shoes were.  He had been bowling the day before and was feeling like an expert.  Abram, on the other hand, was watching Noah like a hawk.  He knew he should watch his brother and do everything just like Noah!  As Noah strutted up to the bowling lane, I was surprised to see how mature he was.  He threw that ball so hard and actually did a great job bowling.  Abram, other the other hand, needed grandma's help carrying the ball to the bowling area.  As Abram threw the ball down the alley, he would sprawl out on the lane waiting for his ball to hit the pins.  What a cute little pose!  Again I thanked God for the wonderful day he had given me thanks to these wonderful grandchildren.  Before we knew it, the two games of bowling were ended.  Noah and Abram quickly turned in their bowling shoes and asked me, "Grandma can we come again?"  I thought, "Why not...let's do it again."  It helps being across the street from the bowling alley.  I think we'll have to go more frequently now that I see my grandsons are so good at bowling!

I have come to the conclusion that being a grandma is one of God's biggest blessings.  What more can anyone ask from life when they watch their grandchildren grow up.  Grandparents are truly blessed!