I have quickly realized what a spoiled Grandma I am! This is just day twelve of me being a long distance grandma and I am not very good at it at all. My husbands work has taken us just three hours away from all of our children and grandchildren for a few months.
I only had to go five days before seeing a set of my kids and four of my nine grandkids who came for a weekend visit. I was thrilled to see them and we had a wonderful time together. When it was time for them to go you would have thought they must live on the other side of the world from my emotional state when having to say my good-byes! My sadness started up when it got within a couple of hours of their planned departure. I held it together until it was time for them to load up in the car. It was then that the tears began to flow and my heart was breaking that I was not going to see them for a while.
I held up in my bedroom to try to gain composure so not to upset the kids. They all came in one at a time to say good-bye to their sobbing grandma. They had me laughing and crying at the same time. I realized how silly it was to be feeling so sad but the tears continued to flow and my heart continued to be break.
It has now been just five days since they left and I will be seeing another set of kids and three grandsons tomorrow who are coming for an overnight visit. I have been already been trying to prepare myself for their departure. Since I am still tearing up when I think about my first set leaving just five days ago I think I will be better off talking to my grandsons ahead of time to let them know that my tears (that I'm sure will come) when it is time to go is because I love them so much and that I will miss seeing them until next time.
I already know that once they leave I will only have another five days before I will get to see another set of my kids and two more grandsons who will be spending a few days with us.
As you can see I am a very spoiled grandma. I am also a very blessed grandma who loves living close to her children and grandchildren!
Most importantly, I have gained enormous empathy for ALL long distance grandmas in a very short period of time. I have also wondered several times this week if my own mother who is now in her late eighties has ever felt this way. I have always just assumed she was thankful for the peace and quiet she was left with when we left with our young family. I wonder now if I assumed wrong......no surprise, that makes me ( a very homesick grandma) shed tears too!
4 comments:
I know how you feel. The day Jessica left for Chicago was awful! And the day I left Chicago when Carlee was 1 month old was soooo hard.
I know the feeling Shelley. When we lived in Chicago it was awful. Just think you will be home in a few months.
Hi, I found your blog about a year ago and love it.
I am a long distant grandma of two wonderful granddaughters, I live in the southeast corner of Washington state and they are in Anchorage, Alaska. There are times I feel I am being punished for something, and the pain of when that dreaded good-bye comes is the worst there is. I hate returning to the quite emptiness of our house. I was and am lucky I know to have a relationship with them, I know plenty of grands who don't and I think that would kill me. This past spring I was fortunate to get to help my daughter out as she trained for a new position and her hours where crazy, then the grands returned with me for their summer visit, so in all I was submersed 24/7 for 5 months, when they went home I was lost and the house sat with their finger prints and smudges and toys around for a month, I am finally cleaning them up, but I hate the silence, my daughter makes comments about how she would love a few minutes to herself and jokes are made, she thinks they are jokes, about how her kids will always live close by. We do the web camera like last week it was the oldest 6th birthday and we were going to watch her open her present from us and I had sent up cupcakes and had a cupcake here to sing and blow out candles, wouldn't you the connection wouldn't work so we got pictures a day later, believe me the tears where flowing and the heart was breaking. She lost a 4th tooth the other day and I learned of it as an oh by the way, after the first tooth it has just become a common event for them, but even those to me aren't common and I feel hurt. Hearing the 2 year old in the back ground talking better and yelling that she is 2 is heart breaking. I know I am spoiled as a long distant grand as there are grands who get less then I do, I don't take it for granted at all and always am hungry for more. I think of the technology available to us and feel very grateful that I am not in a period as our ancestors were with no means of communications save for a letter, but I am also greedy and want more, in this case more is never enough. Sorry for the lengthy comment, but it is nice to know it is falling to someone who understands. Thank you for sharing and for listening.
Connie
Yes, you are! But you deserve every minute of it.
It sounds like you've been having some fun. And we can't wait to join in on some of it. We'll see you soon. Only 5 days, the boys are counting down!!!!!
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