A few years back, maybe more than a few years
ago, I had two granddaughters that started to come to our house every summer
for a long weekend. Mariah and Naomi are now in their early 20’s, they called
it Camp Grandma, a term I got from my kids going to their Grandma Rings. Camp
Grandma was a way of connecting with grandkids when they didn’t live very close
to us. We would spend some time playing games, doing things they didn’t have
access to in the small towns they were from. We would go out for one fancy dinner,
when we had a house with a pool in the backyard, we spent most of Camp Grandma
poolside. Each year we would get different colored T-shirts with the kids’
names on the back. It was always fun, no matter how many kids could attend. I
think the record was 9 kids at a time. Yes, Grandma was one tired chick after
that one.
Suddenly there was an explosion of kids, lots of
grandkids, we are up to 18 now. Seems there might be a few more in our future.
(wink, wink, hopefully) Slowly with everyone's busy schedules Camp Grandma
ended. Also, have you ever tried to keep up with 5 eleven and twelve-year-old
girls in one weekend??? I will tell you it’s overwhelming. Grandma needed a
vacation after that one!
Camp Grandma was always a great way to connect
with our grandkids that lived at least a few hours away. We would still skype
occasionally, one of our grandson’s called me TV drama. Unable to say his g’s
he knew me as the grandma that was on the TV, that is how they viewed their
skype. I have always been grateful for the technology; we would have had a
difficult time staying connected with these kids without it. My grandparents
were so important in my life, I wanted my grandkids to at least know who I was.
I couldn’t offer the comforting lap, the delicious pancakes my grandmothers
delivered, I needed to do something, and Skype offered that something.
Now in this time of pandemic I feel like I need
these little humans in my life more than ever. We have created Sunday story
time, it started with Mark and I reading to the kids, now the kids are doing
some of the reading. It is delightful to hear their squealing, excited to have
some screen time maybe, but time to see their cousins, aunts and uncles and of
course Grammy and Bumpa. These times are hard, we need to look for the silver
lining, story time is just that. Just this morning I spent some time with
Mataya, age 7 doing a zoom meeting as we explored the Minneapolis Institute of
Art. We made a list of things we want to see when she comes to Grandma’s house
next time. Hopefully, this summer.
When times are tough, and these are tough times
for us extroverts that are missing our families, we must find new things that
bring us joy. We are in this together and on the other side of it hopefully we
will have stronger families because of it.
#findthejoy in everyday
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