Co-Grandparenting At Its Best
This past Spring, my husband and I decided to book a trip. We were considering timing options and settled on mid-September. September is a perfect time for a getaway, don’t you think? The weather almost everywhere is guaranteed beautiful. September feels like a pause between the end of summer and the pivot towards Fall craziness. I mean, before you know it, we’ll be singing Christmas carols. Ok, I’m getting way ahead of myself, but you get the point about planning a vacation in September. A perfect time, right? That is, unless you find out you’ll be gone for your grandkids’ school celebration of Grandparents’ Day.
Several of our grandkids attend Incarnation School in Centerville. Each year, Incarnation marks Grandparent Day with and invitation for grandparents or other “special” people to come and see your grandchild’s classroom, visit the book fair, and end up in the cafeteria where an epic session of Bingo takes place. Over the past couple of years, my grandkids and I have loved our opportunity to spend such fun time together. So, when I discovered that my perfect September getaway conflicted with Grandparent’s Day, I felt the planning was not so perfect after all. Who would be there for them?
And then the solution came to me like a warm hug. If I couldn’t be there for my grandkids, I knew some other grandparents that could. So, I called my brother and my sister, both grandparents themselves and asked if they’d be willing to stand in for me. I also realized this was a commitment to the day because, well, multiple grandkids mean multiple Bingo sessions.
The result of my asking was a resounding yes, and not only did my siblings show up for my grandkids, I think they were even more excited than I would have been. Although I was far away on Grandparent Day, I received one photo text after another with such big smiles. I was so grateful that my little ones felt such an extension of love.
The whole experience reminded me of the universality to being a grandparent. A grandparent to one is like being a grandparent to all. When my kids were young, my mom was “Gig” to all the other little kids that crossed her path. Her arms were always outstretched to welcome any child into her loving embrace. Likewise, my dad was “Gramps” to all my son’s soccer teammates. I recently met another grandmother who told me she has a constant supply of chocolate chip cookies in the freezer for any of her grandkids’ friends who may find themselves at her home.
Grandparents have a universal language that most times doesn’t require a single spoken word. We all get it. The joys of being a grandparent are like no other. I remember those days of intense parenting. There’s always a to-do list and an internal barometer checking to make sure you are doing right by your kids. That can be complicated. I remember thinking about my children’s needs all the time. Grandparenting is much simpler. All you need to do is love and show up in love.
Hearing the account of the day, I think my grandkids had a ball with their surrogate grandparents. There were even some Bingo winners which is more than I can say from my own Bingo experiences in the past. Next year I’ll think twice before scheduling another perfect September getaway, but in case I ever need some grandparent backup, I know the perfect people to call. At least in my world, there’s plenty of big grandparent love to go around.