The Fun Times

How quickly we forget!  Kids are such fun--so full of it.  Everyday they learn a new trick. I laughed when Dan said, "It is so freaky to wake up in the night and find a baby sitting up looking at me."  Kenzie is sitting up now.

Anyone miss those days?
I sure do.

Having grandchildren around is a reminder why we couldn't wait for our own children to grow up.  We remember the cute things they did and forget all the work and frustration they caused.  Having said that, it is good having them around.  They are so full of energy and can't sit still.  The downside is that they remind us of how much energy we have lost.  The positive side is that they speak the truth about things we are reluctant to say.  They have not yet been brain-washed with political correctness.

My son was an absolute joy as a baby and in childhood.  He made up for it later :-)

As an adult, it seems the teen and young adult years of difficulties helped shape a person of wisdom, srength and grit with a heart of gold.  It was worth it.

I was thinking.  Even in the troubled teens, he came through with srong character when circumstances required it.

Well, there was that period of time when I needed at least three arms and hands...

But those smiles were worth it.

And then there was that special period of time when the four of us became a strongly bonded family unit, on our own.


Yeah, overall, it was a fun time.

So is today.

Grannie Annie time begins two weeks from Monday - I'm already getting everything ready to pack.

How wonderful!  I can relate to all of what  each of you said.
The teen years were my least fun times.

I don't know many people who were happy as teens. The few that thought so never really grew beyond them. How would you like to look back on your life and feel the best times had been over for decades?

Today is the best time, even when circumstances may be challenging.

Naturally the teen years are the least enjoyable in one's own life, but I also found them to  be the least fun with my children also.
I liked to know where they were and what they were doing at all times.  Probably my favorite years were from 4-10.  Then 21 and on.
Now is the very best-we enjoy them and  their children.

I hear so many people say that their children's teen years were hard for them.  For us, it wasn't that way.  They were all pretty responsible; I knew I could count on them, so there weren't many rules.  Those years were probably harder on me, since I didn't "date."  I couldn't figure out how to expect one set of behaviors from them if I was following my own.  It would have been harder to try and explain that I was an adult, so certain things were OK for me, but not for them.  So I stayed home, minding the campfires, so to speak.

When the "split" came between me and the girls, they were older, and it seemed, looking back, to be more of what Maureen Murdock in The Heroine's Journey: Women's Quest for Wholeness called "Abandoning the Mother," in order to go on "The Father Quest."   As they finished college and began their own careers, they needed to be free to identify with Dad because they needed to be able to develop a few masculine traits in order to be successful at work.  What began as moments of hostility grew until they eventually broke off all contact for several years.  As in Murdock's book, once they achieved a degree of success in that world, they were eager to "Heal the Mother/Daughter Split."

It's only been a generation or so that young women in our culture were allowed to take their journeys.

I wish I had read that book sooner, for understanding myself as well as for understanding them after they "left the nest."

Ann,

 You are so wise.  I am very happy for you.

D
Dan and Kenzie at the ocean

Becky  was so much fun!

Love Kenzie's hat!

I bought it!

You done goood, Granma.

I dated and married during my single parenting years.  My friend made the choice not to date until her childlren were past their teens.  I think her children faired better.  I was under the impression that two parents were better than one.  I was wrong.  It's the quality of parenting that counts, not who does it.

DK, I used to tell the girls that if I had made different choices, their lives would have been different, but not necessarily better or worse. I think we always make our decisions based on what we know at that time, so there is never a need to feel like they were mistakes. That's true in your case, too. You did what you believed was best for them. That's what matters.

What Ann said.