Grateful - Nov 10th

I remember when I was growing up, we would go eat dinner at my grandma and grandpa's house at least once a week.  Grandma Sale would make flank steak and homemade macaroni and cheese (the kind in the oven, with milk and butter and cheese - YUM!) - all my favorites.  After dinner, I would sit at the vanity in her room, applying her make-up, and putting on all her costume jewelry.  Then I would write a little note begging to spend the night, which was always green-lighted, and out would come my pre-packed Care Bears suitcase that I had "snuck" into the car.  The night would round out with a bowl of ice cream, an evening of Golden Girls with my grandma, and a couple issues of old Reader's Digests before bed.  In the morning, my grandpa would have fresh jelly filled donuts waiting for us, and then he'd drive us to school about 30 minutes away, while my brother and I made up a whole morning radio show (he did sports and news, I did entertainment and current events).  Heaven.  Perfection.

At home none of these things happened!  My mom always was quick to remind us that "grandmas are magic", and for us, it could not have been more true.  Anything we wanted, we got, when we were with both sets of our grandparents.  My mom said that my Grandma Mueller watched me one day a week while my mom worked, and I would come home with a new outfit each time!

Only Grandmas can work this kind of magic and get away with it.  Moms just get accused of excessive spoiling and bad parenting lol.  I have adopted this kind of mentality with my kid's grandparents.  Whipped cream from Mammaw's coffee at 9  months old - go for it!  Ice cream before lunch at Grammy's house - absolutely!  Stay up until 9:30 pm watching Dancing with the Stars - why not?

The other day, Hayden begged to go home with grammy after she had spent the morning just hanging out with us at home while I worked.  My mom explained to him that she was having a boring afternoon of running errands, and he wouldn't have any fun.  He thought about if for a moment and said, "but grammy, I just like being with you".  Ummm...yeah that was pretty heart melting!  And the other night, we were late getting home after a Chuck E Cheese birthday party, but Hayden wanted to continue home with grammy to sleepover.  Once again, she explained that it wouldn't be fun for him because they couldn't do their usual nightly routine (swinging on the tire swing, watching airplanes, eating ice cream, snuggling and watching shows), since it was already so late.  Again, he was quiet for a minute, and then he responded, "well that's ok grammy, because I'll still get to be with you in the morning".  No doubt part of the excitement of spending time with grammy and poppy is that he gets to eat more sweets and stay up later, but he obviously there is so much love there, and just BEING with his grammy makes him happy.  Going to the bank and Lowe's is fun, because he has a magical grammy.

Along with a healthy dose of indulgence, my mom heaps on the love and affection and adoration that very few kids are lucky enough to experience.  For that reason, I am abundantly thankful: