Blessed
Sophie is spending the night with my grandparents. In some ways, that seems totally normal to me. I've spent countless nights with Mee Maw and Big Dad. Many of my very best childhood memories include my time with them. But they aren't Sophie's grandparents, but rather her great-grandparents. I mean, how many kids get to spend that kind of time with their great-grandparents? I remember spending a few days in "the country" where my great-grandparents lived, which was amazing, but even at that I don't think I was nearly as close to them as Sophie is to Mee Maw and Big Dad.
In some ways, I feel a little sad when I watch my grandparents with my children because they are no longer the larger-than-life, always-on-the-go, way-more-fun-than-your-parents couple they used to be. Mee Maw and Big Dad took me on my first trips to Washington D.C., New York, LA, and Las Vegas. And that's just the beginning of the adventures we went on together. In my years at Alabama, I traveled to many away games with them, happy to have the opportunity continue my adventures with people who made me feel like the most important person in the world. My kids will never experience those adventures with them. But as I watch Sophie beg me to spend the night with them, Will cry because he can't yet, Lillie charm her way into every piece of candy within a five mile radius of their house, and Lulu fall under Mee-Maw's crazy baby whisperer charms, I realize that some things about them haven't changed.
And even the things that have changed are OK because they aren't supposed to be the "adventure people" they were to me. For Sophie, Will, Lillie, and Lu, that's Patti-Grams and Tato. Mee-Maw and Papa are the people with whom the kids can enjoy simple pleasures instead of grand adventures. "Fat Boy" ice cream sandwiches, playing with a box in the back yard, blowing bubbles on the back porch and listening to songs and stories that have been sung and told for generations.
The past few months have been full of lots of ups and downs for my grandparents. My grandfather has spent 82 years in the state of Alabama, and he wasn't exactly excited about leaving. Both he and my grandmother had serious health issues within a week of their move. There has been adjustment after adjustment and change after change they've had to make. A church, a community, doctors, friends, Sunday school classes, brother-in-laws, and sisters have been left behind. The past few months have been hard.
But tonight my seven year old daughter begged me to spend the night with her great grandparents. And as hard as it is for me to imagine, if I ever have the opportunity to have Sophie's granddaughter beg to spend the night with me, I will know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I am indescribably blessed. I'm so humbly thankful for the opportunity my children are receiving to spend time with the people who've loved me so well and taught me so much about how to love well, but I'm also grateful that my grandparents are receiving the gift of time, not just with their children or even with their grandchildren, but with their great-grandchildren. I'm thankful the Lord is allowing them to continue to build into the lives of their descendants. They are living to see on earth that their children, their children's children, and their children's grandchildren are walking in the truth. We are all indescribably blessed.
In some ways, I feel a little sad when I watch my grandparents with my children because they are no longer the larger-than-life, always-on-the-go, way-more-fun-than-your-parents couple they used to be. Mee Maw and Big Dad took me on my first trips to Washington D.C., New York, LA, and Las Vegas. And that's just the beginning of the adventures we went on together. In my years at Alabama, I traveled to many away games with them, happy to have the opportunity continue my adventures with people who made me feel like the most important person in the world. My kids will never experience those adventures with them. But as I watch Sophie beg me to spend the night with them, Will cry because he can't yet, Lillie charm her way into every piece of candy within a five mile radius of their house, and Lulu fall under Mee-Maw's crazy baby whisperer charms, I realize that some things about them haven't changed.
And even the things that have changed are OK because they aren't supposed to be the "adventure people" they were to me. For Sophie, Will, Lillie, and Lu, that's Patti-Grams and Tato. Mee-Maw and Papa are the people with whom the kids can enjoy simple pleasures instead of grand adventures. "Fat Boy" ice cream sandwiches, playing with a box in the back yard, blowing bubbles on the back porch and listening to songs and stories that have been sung and told for generations.
But tonight my seven year old daughter begged me to spend the night with her great grandparents. And as hard as it is for me to imagine, if I ever have the opportunity to have Sophie's granddaughter beg to spend the night with me, I will know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I am indescribably blessed. I'm so humbly thankful for the opportunity my children are receiving to spend time with the people who've loved me so well and taught me so much about how to love well, but I'm also grateful that my grandparents are receiving the gift of time, not just with their children or even with their grandchildren, but with their great-grandchildren. I'm thankful the Lord is allowing them to continue to build into the lives of their descendants. They are living to see on earth that their children, their children's children, and their children's grandchildren are walking in the truth. We are all indescribably blessed.
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