One of them used to eat all the raisins out of my Raisin Bran. She still eats all the carrots out of my salad.
The other – I don’t know what she eats – but how did she get to be so tall? Seems like yesterday we were nose to nose but only because I was holding this precious little treasure. Now we are almost nose to nose and she is standing facing me, challenging me to a game of basketball!
I remember the first time they said “grandpa.” I have no idea what my seven grandsons’ first words were but I am quite positive “grandpa” was the first word my two granddaughters said.
The hardware store, the bookstore, the grocery store, people would stop and stare.
“That cute little baby’s back!” one clerk would announce to another at one of my more frequent haunts.
When she would cry, I would swoop her up from her swinging cradle, hold her close, say “It’s ok, it’s grandpa” and instantly she’s quiet. Grandpa has her.
It was always magical, a very, very special moment.
There, in my arms, she would tuck her head under my chin after first smiling and stretching her entire length as if by doing so she would make herself instantly grow taller, then she would lay her chubby little arms out and up on my chest, and we would go for a walk.
Sometimes her fuzzy bit of hair and just her very dark eyes would peer over the top of my shoulder as we went to get the mail; or to search for my favorite author in the bookstore; or be stopped by some total stranger like the guy whose accent identified him as possibly Yugoslavian.
“Why do grandpas love their granddaughters so much?” he asked, no doubt rhetorically, as he peered over the top of his spectacles.
Happy our relationship was so obvious, I was about to answer his question there in the plumbing section as I compared prices for bath fixtures, but a couple passing by – also unknown to me – overheard the question and answered:
“Because that’s what grandpas do.”
And another thing grandpas do.
Grandpas of granddaughters pray that each of these little girls one day become women who are loved more, far more, than even grandpa loves them, by some guy, and not just any guy, but one who believes it is in their best interest – which it is – to make their lives beautiful, someone who lives to love them.
Because that’s what husbands – and grandpas who love grandmas – do.
