Grandparenting.  All in a day’s {most joyous} work…

An invitation to a tea by Gavin’s 2nd grade class.  We “adopt” his friend, Keenan, whose grandparents are out of town and they serve us tea and lemonade and assorted muffins.  The boys are so energetic it makes my head spin.  But right in the middle of a school day Monday, my grandson gives me a hug and a kiss and he’s is so glad we are there, I can tell.  And Keenen likes us, too.

I pull into the driveway at their house to drop off their cousin and two little Kelley girls run to meet me.  “Nonna!! ,” squeals Gemma, and she jumps up to hug me through the window with abanoned glee at my arrival.  Guini is slightly more reserved but makes her way to me, “Oh, it is my lovely Nonna,”  she says, touching my face, and she kisses my cheek and hugs me through the car window.

Know what is sweeter than kissing a grandbebe goodnight?  Waking their warm little faces with a quiet kiss in the mornings.  Hunter spent the night and was my little sweety-pie-let’s-have-hot-buttered-toast-for-breakfast guy.  I miss having a little person in the house.  How did those years go so quickly?

Averi’s momma says Averi has my feet.  I ask her, “Do you have Nonna”s feet, Miss Averi?”  Yes, she tells me AND we both have bejeweled flip flops.  We lie in the grass looking at the clouds and prop our feet up on a retaining wall and take a picture of our cute shoes to remember the moment.  Averi thinks mine  are pretty and she tries them on.   We chat about all sorts of nothing before she insists I push way high in the swing.

Good, and I mean, really good times!