Category: Grandparenting

GRANDMA LOVE

Posted on by Jill E. Smith
July 29,2020
GRANDMA LOVE
If I were an oak tree….my grandson Lucas has quietly and gradually carved his initials into my trunk.
How can a bundle of such helpless fragility be so powerful?
His target is my heart. His purpose in my life is to etch himself into my soul and in so doing shed a spotlight onto my journey thus far with a new clarity and a new purpose…and did I mention….a new joy that spices what was already there.
He conquered my heart in those sweet moments as he innocently slept (or even fussed) in my arms.

VIEW FROM A GRANDMOTHER’S WINDOW

Posted on by Jill E. Smith
June 18, 2020
I didn’t know what to expect when he made his grand entrance, my grandson on June 11th, 2020. He arrived and my son in law sent me a photo of Lucas Liam. He was stretched out in all his glory. Took my breath away.
But when I was sent the photo of my daughter holding her glistening and peaceful newborn on her chest, all I could do was sob. The emotion was just a flood. I had no words to match the sight of my first born with her own first born.
I’m beginning to understand the love for a grandchild. People told me it was amazing, like nothing else, the best. For me it was like those rockets that head into space. At a certain point, shortly after lift off another powerful surge of explosion jettisons the capsule into space while the fuel capsule falls away. The love for my daughter is like that fuel that was the source of the second explosion. My grandson is not just another precious baby. Because he is sourced from my daughter, my experience of him is a direct extension of my love for his mother. They are one in the same.
Could my love for Lucas be double my love for her? I doubt that. God has revealed to me that love has no bounds. It builds upon itself over and over again.

VIEW FROM A GRANDMOTHER’S WINDOW

Posted on by Jill E. Smith

June 24th, 2020
View from a Grandmother’s Window:


Two precious images. Lucas looking like he’s seeing his mom clearly for the first time (we know he’s not yet 🙂 ). I love to be able to capture these precious moments.
I’m ‘feeling out’ this grandmother thing. Its not just a learning curve for baby and mama.
How much do I say? How much do I teach. Do I wait to be asked….or just charge on in? (not).
Is it enough to just gently shove that baby nipple in his mouth to show how its done, or to say ‘you can’t hold a newborn ‘too much’ at this time.
Grandmother-hood is something about knowing when to ‘step in’ and when to sit on my hands. There’s never a ‘time’ to love however, because that’s an always sort of thing.
Mama’s need to figure out their own way. They need to figure out what works for them and their baby….how to fit this ‘motherhood’ thing into who they are; what they are; and what their life demands from them.
Grandmotherhood is about becoming more expert at being a keen observer; and being ready to be available when its right.
I know I’m going to want to teach about the best way to nourish little Lucas’s body/mind and spirit.
I’ll keep journalling about that!

TRUST

TRUST

Posted on by Jill E. Smith
JULY 6, 2021
TRUST
Sometimes I feel like I’m holding a little bird

Fragile yet certain.

Melding into my palm…delicate and restless.

Lucas is slowly sealing within himself the foundation of trust.

He allows me to stroke his satin skin and fine growing hair.

He slowly surrenders to slumber in my arms.

Head against my chest.

He is learning love.

Trust…once it permanently etches itself into his soul will allow him to learn to build

friendships and deeper relationships.

Yes, he will have to learn how to discern these relationships over his lifetime.

But for now, he simply receives the love of his family.

Sweet and indelible.

What a miracle to watch God’s plan in sweet slow-motion snippets of time.

GRANDMA LOVE

GRANDMA LOVE

Posted on by Jill E. Smith

GRANDMA LOVE

August 2,2020

It goes beyond the love of the feel of his neck nestled against mine…or the look of his intense alert gaze at the trees and their sky…or his baby fragrance.

When I hold him, and gaze down at his slumber in my embrace, it’s like I’m holding the universe. Its infinite. Bottomless. No ending….no beginning. His presence in my arms reveals those who’s shoulders upon which he’ll eventually stand, and at the same time, the descendants who will stand upon his shoulders someday…long after I am gone.

Within my embrace lies both the sorrows and the glory of even my own life all wrapped up in one bundle.

The miracle of hope.

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A GRANDMOTHER'S EYE VIEW

A GRANDMOTHER’S EYE VIEW

Posted on by Jill E. Smith
August 5,2021

He loves to look up at the sky and point to the birds. He’ll gaze upward looking for them and point when he sees them. I wonder what the birds see…or think…when they gaze below at a 14 month old little boy full of wonder.

What I see as I gaze down at him is simply blessing.

I get to spend 2 fun filled, laughter filled, exhausting filled and intense days per week with my grandson. I wanted this snapshot today from our dog walk excursion because I know that sometime soon (probably not so soon…but it will feel like soon) when he no longer needs his stroller.

So, I get to see his chubby little knees and blond head with his cowlick at the crown. He’s holding a flower because he ‘demands’ I pick ones now and then for him. He usually drops them somewhere along the way, but that doesn’t matter.

Lucas loves our dog walks. They’ve become part of our biweekly ritual. Children love ritual and routine…and he gets to see the world roll by with his grandma and 2 Scotties, Mackenzie and Angus.

For me, the photo provides an indelible memory of this sweet fleeting moments of his life. For him, my prayer is that love and security is etching it’s way deep into his soul. Over time, he most likely will not remember these morning strolls, but the love becomes sealed within his memory vault of images mixed with the hugs and unconditional acceptance that will define his character as he journeys on.