A Full Decade of Being a Grandma

My oldest grandchild celebrated her tenth birthday this week and that means that I have been a grandma for a full decade! I have become the grandma to ten amazing grandchildren in those ten years. One year we went from two grandchildren to five. Those three grandchildren arrived just three months after the other. The current ages of my grandchildren are ten, almost nine, three that are six, five, four, almost three, two, and just over two months old. The ability that we have to love and bond with each and every grandchild as they become part of our lives is an absolute gift.

On my tenth anniversary of becoming a grandparent this week I was away caring for my elderly parents who are in their late eighties. They are the grandparents to twenty-two adult grandchildren and the great-grandparents of fifty to date. They have been grandparents for over four decades. Their grandchildren are spread across the United States and they are all busy providing for and raising their own families.

While with my parents I found myself thinking of the next decades of being grandma. I had very mixed emotions. The decades to come are unknown territory and very foreign waters to me. I am not quite sure how I will navigate through the teenage, young adult, and the adult years of my grandchildren.

I can only hope that what I am working to build now as a grandma is enough to keep my grandchildren and I  bonded and connected throughout the years of them growing up and me growing older. I find peace in knowing that becoming a grandma ten years ago was also unknown territory and foreign waters. Treading the foreign waters of being a grandma my first decade seemed to come quite naturally. I don't know that I could have possibly found any more joy in the journey.

So for now, I will continue to enjoy each and every moment with my growing grandchildren. I will continue my mission as a grandma to build strong family bonds, to create traditions,  and share in cherished memories that will last a lifetime.

I can only imagine the joy that my one day adult grandchildren will bring me when they reflect on their childhood memories that I had a part in creating for them. So, chin up Grandma Shelley I am quite sure there is much more joy to be found in every decade of the grandma journey!