Reflection

Over the weekend we went out to eat (nothing unusual there)....as we were sitting in our booth waiting for our food, I glanced around and some of the other people and noticed a group of three at the booth next to us. There was a young woman, an older woman and an elderly gentleman. They had already finished their meal and had just received their dessert. I quickly realized that the young woman was dining with her mother and her grandfather. As they were eating their dessert I also realized that the young woman was eating the brownie, but her grandfather was eating only the ice cream. Then he started asking her about baby names. The young woman then pulls out ultrasound pics to show him (of course he has no idea what he is looking at, but he tells her that her baby blob is very pretty). She was 22 weeks along and had just found out the week before that she was having a girl.

Watching them and eavesdropping (yes, I do know that this is not polite - I just couldn't help myself) on their conversation made me think of my own grandpa. First off, this grandpa was eating only the ice cream and leaving the rest. If you were to ask anyone what my grandpa's favorite thing was - they would tell you ice cream. Secondly, my grandpa passed away when I was 22 weeks along. I had found out that I was having a girl, and we called to tell my aunt and my grandma, but grandpa was really sick by then and no one really knows if he ever understood that his first great grandchild was going to be a girl. He had been so excited about being a great grandpa. He had made Steven and I promise that we would bring the baby to see him as soon as we were able to. Traveling with a newborn did not really appeal to me - but I was going to do it for him!! I have so many wonderful memories of my grandpa (and a lot of them actually center around ice cream) :-) I remember sitting there at his funeral and crying......holding my belly......and feeling incredibly sad. Not that he was gone - I knew he was in a better place and no longer in pain - but because he was never going to get the chance to meet Emmaline.

Then when Emma was about 6 months old, my other grandfather passed away. He had never gotten to meet Emma, but he had seen lots of pictures of her and he knew exactly who she was even when he had problems remembering other people.

I have been very blessed in my life to have grown up with all 4 of my grandparents. I was 34 before Grandpa passed away. I honestly don't know many people my age who have all, if any, of their grandparents in their life. I have also been blessed to have had Christian grandparents that set a wonderful example for me. One of my Grandpa's was a deacon in the church and the other was a preacher and a missionary.

I don't think about my grandpa's very often, but watching the interaction between this young woman and her grandpa, reminded me so much of mine. When they got up to leave and she helped him out of the booth, I couldn't help but smile at her and tell her how lucky she was and to treasure every moment she had with him. She probably thought I was nuts!

So - thank you to both of my Grandpa's for the lessons you taught me and the love you gave me for 34 years! I can't wait to see you again!!

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Note: I just realized that this is my 100th post!! I can hardly believe that I have done this 100 times already! Thanks for reading!!!!! :-)