The Fine Art of Grandparenting

It never used to be an art. It was just something that old people did.....something they expected and readily accepted as a rite of passage. These days, however, grandparenting has taken on a whole new meaning. They even have lessons on the subject at hospitals and birthing centers. Can you imagine that....lessons on how to be a Nana? Well....maybe I should sign up. After all, I'm going to soon become a grandparent!

Not to negate my role as Lilly's Nana (I've written about Lilly before....she's the little girl with Down Syndrome. I couldn't love her any more if she were my "own.").....this will be my first run with grandparenting from infancy. Aiden or Annabelle (we'll actually learn later today which one it will be!) will be born in September, and I plan to be a hands-on Nana. But first I need to make a few of my very own grandparenting rules.

1. Grandparents do NOT have to be old. I may be sprouting a few grays (okay....so lots of grays mixed with lots of whites, too!) but I'm definitely not THAT old!

2. Grandparents do not have to dress in 20th century grandparent attire. I will not succumb to stretch pants with matching tops regardless of how much into this grandparenting thing I get. After all, this IS the 21st century!

3. I don't knit or crochet. Believe me, my own grandmothers and one great-grandmother tried effortlessly to teach me. I simply wasn't able to learn. So I'll not be sitting in a chair with only my hands in constant motion.

4. I promise not to tell stories beginning with, "When I was a girl......" At least not until I've hit 60.

5. Grandparents don't have to like the way mommies raise their children. They simply need to shut their mouths and smile patiently.

6. I vow NOT to remind my daughter (Aiden or Annabelle's mommy) about the time she went out her bedroom window to a party, flipped me off from the window of a Greyhound Bus when we took her only mode of transportation away while going to college, or was caught in the park drinking beer....at least not in front of little Aiden or Annabelle.

7. I promise to be a very active Nana. I'll buy a double stroller and set out on numerous adventures with Lilly and Aiden/Annabelle. We DON'T have to be back in time for dinner!

8. I have the right to make cookies whenever I want and spoil as many dinners as I can.

9. I won't subject said baby to waking up in the morning by a dancing nana with a rubber chicken in hand.....the way I woke up Mommy throughout her last two years in high school.

10. I will unabashedly buy lots of stock in the Toys 'R Us company and shower my grandchildren to the fullest extent with the fruits of my expected windfalls.

For today, however, I'll wait here at home for the proud parents to arrive, bearing an ultrasound photo of their precious baby. And I'll thank the good Lord for whichever He chooses to bless us with. But I won't sit here quietly. I'm not knitting and I'm not rocking in a chair. Actually I'm throwing out trash and getting ready for a mega-yard sale in a couple of weeks. After all, there's going to be a new baby around.

And I need to buy some new furniture.....and toys.......and blankets........oh, yes, and that double stroller.......