Dear Reader:

I find myself communicating with Mollie each day now…”Just checking in” I email or call. She lets me know any new “movement” or “changes” the baby is making in these final days (or hours) before arrival.

I tell her I have my gift for our soon-to-appear littlest Dingle already in the car (along with another truck for Rutledge that I will tell him came from the baby.) Like the “minute men” of old I want to be ready to jump in the car at a moment’s notice and “gallop” towards East Cooper hospital! (Not having left the presents behind at home in my excitement to get there.)

As much as we might like the idea ( on some long nights of crying) that babies should arrive fully assembled, potty trained, mature acting in a pint-sized form…we know this not to be true. Growing up takes a lifetime and if we learn our own life lessons well…we know that growing down and becoming a child again (before the end of our lives)  is the goal of a well-lived life.

There is a part of us that wishes we could give a newborn baby the gift of “self” at birth…that we could spare the heartaches and difficulties of growing up for each of them…but this is not to be…it is not God’s design.

L’Engle says:

“A self is not something static, tied up in a pretty parcel and handed to the child, finished and complete. A self is always becoming.”

As a grandmother I can only nudge and sometimes point in the right direction but I can’t live my children or grandchildren’s lives for them. I can only watch them “become” and immerse myself in the treasured moments I share with them.

This hands-on relationship between parent/grandparent and child is fascinating but also a source of vulnerability for both the young and old. Don’t you ever remember thinking as a child that you wish you could hurry up and grow up so you wouldn’t be vulnerable any more? …Only to discover that adulthood is also filled with vulnerability…that life is?

 “When we were children, we used to think that when we were grown-up we would no longer be vulnerable. But to grow up is to accept vulnerability… To be alive is to be vulnerable.” ― Madeleine L’Engle 

It is when we are feeling most “powerless” that God enters our lives and makes us strong…with no sense of vulnerability we would try to take control of God’s World without asking permission….becoming the “bullies” of earth. (And nobody likes a bully…including God)

So my grandmother “veil of love”… who adores each of my grandchildren for their vulnerability…is satisfied to simply become a child again and romp in God’s playground with them.

So until tomorrow…my (almost here) grand baby’s first “Dingle Jingle” from Boo Boo… my first gift from me to you!

Just For You

“We’re waiting little one

Just for you!

Will you be pink

Or will you be blue?

Will you come on the first

Or perhaps March 2?

…Or even play coy

and arrive “overdue”?

Wait til’ you’re cooked 

through and through

And then surprise us

With a great big BOO!

We’ll see you soon

in just a few….(days, hours?)

Patiently waiting 

Just for You!

………………………..

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

* It is March 1….Say “Rabbit” and the whole month will be wonderful…for our family it is going to be “extra” wonderful with our newest addition!

You might remember that I asked for “rabbit” pictures ( last month) for the different months showing up on the first day of each blog month…Joan Turner emailed right back with a rabbit drawing and her “rabbit” in her garden….Double good luck for all of us….Thank you Joan!

Yesterday’s blog’s theme resonated with several readers and what is going on in their lives now…  Anne and Cindy took the time to write about their personal connection and a God’s Wink that Cindy found. Thank you girls for sharing!

*Anne says: