I'm Just Too Young to Be a Granny

This past week, my daughter was home on leave. It was a sad occasion that brought her home, (see "Heroes"), but it was good to see her. She is in the US Army and until recently, was serving overseas in Germany. Now she is posted in Texas, although it might as well be Germany, as much as I get to talk to her! This will be her last post, at least for awhile. Soon after the New Year rings in, she will be leaving the Army, at least officially (and the permanence of her leaving is still in question). Her husband is still in the Army and they will be moving to Ft. Hood in Kileen, TX. She keeps reminding me that "everything is bigger in Texas", and apparently that is true even for my barely over 5 ft. daughter. They are expecting! The rumor is that it may be twins, but I can't imagine that my daughter would tolerate that, so we'll see when the blessed event (I can say that, but not with a straight face!) occurs.
Now I have gone through this process twice myself, a boy and a girl-the perfect family. (Ahhh ...we'll have to discuss that in another posting, but I can hear my friends laughing all around the country.) Having trusted my prenatal care and childbirth to a close friend, I never knew there were drugs available, let alone the WONDERFUL invention called the epidural. No, I chose (not really-I wasn't ever really given a choice) to have my children with no medication of any kind. Note:
1. Do not choose an OB-GYN who, in their other life, is a drinking buddy of yours.
2. Natural childbirth is not all they crack it up to be. Take the drugs! Most doctors, like the one I had, for instance, who say natural is best, didn't give birth.
I have also had the great pleasure of having a stepdaughter who I didn't have to give birth to, but get to enjoy all the same. (Take note-this isn't a bad plan!) She has provided me with 3 wonderful grandsons (although there are days she might argue at least part of that statement). Somehow, it just seems different when it's my baby, my youngest child, giving birth.
When I was an adolecsent, my mother used to curse me by saying, "Someday, I hope you have a child just like you!" I did! Two of them, in fact! I am biting my tongue, even as I write this posting not to utter those same words! In fact, just the thought of my baby have a baby(ies), seems on many levels to be all wrong. I am way too young to be a grandma, let alone a grandma many times over. Just yesterday, an old friend from high school called and told me so! (I believed him too! Thanks Paul!) Perhaps I should explain that although my friend has seen a picture or two over the years, we haven't seen each other in person since I graduated at the end of my junior year of high school and moved to another state. Then he moved to California, which is nowhere near the state that I moved to. That might explain the lovely compliment, or maybe... it's just true.
Anyway, back to talking about me! I really am too young for this whole grandma thing, but since I make my living in early childhood, I've decided that I will try to find the silver lining. After all, 1. I don't have to give birth to him/her/them. 2. Grandparents get to enjoy all of the good parts, like having chocolate eating contests, or cookie dough fights, and then send the little darlin's home to their parents. 3. You only have to nod, smile and commiserate over sleepless nights, never having a shoulder that hasn't been urped on, and the inevitable trips to the ER to get an errant screw out of his/her/their nose. (Don't ask!) 4. You don't have to do parent/teacher conferences! (Enough said!)
Now don't misinterpret that I would change having my children. One lives in Texas, as I said, and I miss her terribly everyday. The other is soon to be 22,spreading his wings, and living his life as an adult. (Now, having said he, that intimates he is male. All of my early childhood training teaches me that men do not even start to grow a brain until age 25, and evidently car insurance companies agree, so again I say "enough said!") Watching them grow, watching me grudingly letting go, and at other times shoving as hard as I can, parenthood has been a learning experience for all concerned and it has made me appreciate my own parents more than I ever thought possible. The fact that I am alive still is a testament to their parenting skills! Now I just have to bite my tongue and not utter that curse, but you know what they say, "What goes around, comes around!" Besides, I'm just too young to be a granny!