Perfect

I skipped right past tired today into drop-dead exhausted. It hit suddenly with the force of a sumo wrestler flying through the air and hitting me in the chest. Seriously.

But here’s the thing…I was in the middle of playing with my two and a half year old grandson, so rest was not an option. As we’re playing, and I’m thinking how tired I am, I realized I wasn’t waiting for time to pass. On the contrary, despite fatigue, I was relishing this amazing time with my beautiful Reidy. His big brown eyes engaging me in conversation, drawing me into his child world.

Grandparenthood may just be the perfect experience. The smell of a toddler waking from his nap. The joy with which they greet their stuffed animals (Clark and Puppy and Pawsome). The make-believe exchanges with dolls. The endless repetition of the first 12 seconds of The Ojays ‘For the Love of Money’, danced to as only a two-year old with absolutely no flies on him can. The innumerable renditions of Hickory Dickory Dock and Wheels on the Bus. The glue and glitter. Everywhere. It’s all fleeting, and we know it. 

It’s all of those things that made up the best part of parenthood, only now we recognize them for what they were and what they are. This time, we can hold it a little closer, setting aside the distractions of life, of responsibility, of some of those fears and worries of parenthood. This time, we can simply enjoy the moment, knowing it will be gone as soon as we blink, so blink we don’t.