Joy Like a River

That comes closest to describing how I feel about my granddaughters – “joy like a river floods my soul”.  I had the privilege of babysitting them this weekend,  Oh how it delights my soul to be with them!  To care for their ordinary needs, to love them, play with them, sing together, have laughs over silly things, draw amazing pictures, spend long minutes observing and enjoying ‘weed flowers’ as we walk around the neighborhood.  We make lots of memories, and I want them indelibly imprinted in my memory bank, forever available for retrieval.

How to find words to express the feeling I have when I walk in the door and hear “Grandma, Grandma!” in that precious, excited, 3 year old Emily voice.  The depth and tenderness of our hug as we greet one another after days or weeks apart is a oneness that perhaps can only happen with the distance of an extra generation.  The littlest one doesn’t know me well yet, but instinctively Molly knows I’m a safe person; everyone she loves seems to want me around and she ‘loves me forward’ in her own way, taking our future relationship on faith.  What a gift! 

While I am at their house Emily and I can hardly bear to be separated for even a moment.    Shared ‘potty breaks’ is part of being a grandma when you are this close.  I get to see the world through her view, and at night we can even see in the dark with our “shiny blue eyes”.  A trip to Chick-fil-a for a salad and some chicken nuggets becomes a grand picnic in the park at their playground.  A walk to the corner store becomes an adventure – what a freeing, exciting way to go through life!  I love setting aside my adult thoughts and concerns; that way I don’t miss the fun of hearing “I’ve got Peas Like a River” in the car sung 57 times, or telling and re-telling the interrupting cow knock-knock joke, or hearing her sing a lullaby to her baby sister if she gets a little fussy because we’ve kept her out past nap time.  The things that used to drive me nuts as a parent absolutely delight me as a grandparent – how does that happen?  Now I can draw with chalk on the sidewalk all morning and not grow tired of it, or push Molly and the Clifford family in the stroller while Emily leads the way on her tricycle for most of the afternoon.   Now I wish I could hold Molly for her entire nap time after giving her a bottle, sing to her all my favorite hymns, and gaze at this amazing creature who is a part of me. 

I wish I could capture this season of life in a memory box to enter any time I wish.  I try to, by recording her little voice singing and praying with my cell phone’s voice recorder.  Replaying those sounds never fails to bring a smile to my face and joy to my heart.  A river of joy without bounds, unhindered by the boundaries of time - my river to float away on any time I want.