Grandma Envy

DOWN HOME with Granny B

In my younger days I used to have what I now lovingly refer to as grandma envy.  I figured the life of a grandma was a piece of cake.  I mean as soon as the baby needs a diaper change or starts to cry, you hand them back to mom . . . right?  When your grown children ask you to do something you don't want to do all you have to do is tell them you are too busy darning your false teeth and flossing your socks . . . right? 



Well now that I am a grandma I realize that life on the other side of the hill is not quite the way I had it figured.  One day my precious little granddaughter approached me with the dearest little outstretched arms.  Then she looked up at me, smiled and sweetly said, "I like my other grandma better because she buys me more presents."

When I was younger I planned to spend my mature years eating icecream for breakfast, wearing sweat pants and taking a nap whether I felt like it or not.  You see life always looks greener on the other side of parenthood - but the fact is . . . problems don't go away . . . they simply change  . . . into new  problems.

I like what George Burns said, "With a positive attitude and a little bit of luck, there's no reason you can't live to be a hundred.  Once you've done that, you've really got it made, because very few people die over a hundred."

My friend told me about a recent day babysitting her grandson.  After the grandson ran into the street right in front of a moving car, she chased him down the road, grabbed him by the hair and frantically yelled, "Don't you ever, ever do that again!"

Bug-eyed, her shaking grandson looked up into her red panting face and replied, 'Oh Grandma!  I think you need to take a nap!"

So hang in there all your frazzled parents.  Some day you will have silver in your hair, gold in your teeth and lead in your pants . . . and that is what a rich life is all about.