Love Heirloom

When I was a young mom I had an idea of what I wanted to teach my kids about life, how to live, and to be good citizens, good neighbors; and of course about right and wrong. I remember when my first child flew from the nest and feeling frantic because there was still so much I wanted to teach them, and tell them. Somehow in the busy day to day living there hadn’t seemed to be the time to get around to it all. But I couldn’t go back and have do overs, I had to accept that I had done the best I could with what I had and hope that how I had lived would be the best example for them after all. I think it turned out alright. I have responsible, independent children who are well liked and exceptional employees for the companies they work for. They are all good parents, and yes, I am very proud of them!

So now I am a grandparent and I love my grand kids with a love I didn’t know was possible. I still have a strong desire to teach and instill in my second generation offspring skills, mindsets, abilities and moral values that I wanted to give to my kids. If I am not careful the time will speed by never to be again, lost, the teachable moments that could have been. I am guilty of being caught up in routine, busy with the daily feeding, cleaning up after, and scheduled nap times of my grand kids. But I want so much more than that! I must find the time now, before they are too big and have too many activities to spend that time with me.

How will I do it? With the end result in mind. What do I want my grand children to know about their grandmother? What will they learn from me? What did they like most about time with me?

When I decide that then I will know where to begin and I can break it down into little pieces, scraps of memory, that they can take away with them. And someday when they remember back on their time with me, they will have these little scraps, moments to thread together. I hope that these scraps of moments will be beautiful as a whole. I hope there will be useful patches that help them when they need it. Pieces of happy loving times that bring them comfort. A quilt of memories of remembered love from a grandma who gave them the best she could with what she had at the time. Something they can cherish, something they can pass on to their children as a sort of heirloom of love.

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