The Weekend

Me and my oldest granddaughter, Terra

Terra and her oldest daughter, Bella

So there are two parts to this story. I was invited to the south suburbs of Chicago over the weekend to attend an open house. My step-daughter has just opened a new salon in Crete, IL and this was to be a gala type of event. Terra, my granddaughter, was acting as a hostess for her mom. This was on Sunday.

It is inconvenient and sometimes downright impossible to take the dogs with me on these trips to see family. Terra's house is tiny, and there is barely room for me to stay there. But being the sweetest kid she always insists that I do spend the night, and she makes me feel very welcome. That means Gracie and Jake, spoiled dogs supreme, get to spend a weekend in the country at the pet sitters. They love the pet sitter. Her name is Sherry and she has a huge fenced in yard with trees. Doggy heaven. We made arrangements to meet in the next town over to transfer the dogs from my car to her car. When Sherry pulled up in the Kroger parking lot, rolled down the car window and spoke, Gracie went into wiggle butt ballistic mode. So excited. Jake started barking. They were besides themselves.

Sherry opens the back door to her vehicle, and in hop my babies. Not a backward glance, no "drive safe, mom", nothing. All they can see is Sherry. And that means they will soon see Sherry's yard. Sherry has squirrels in her trees. I tried to pet them good-bye. They weren't having it. The message was clear: bye mom, leave now. The sooner we are on the road, the faster we can chase squirrels.

In the second picture above, you see Terra and Bella. Bella is 20 months old. Her word of the month (this will probably extend for another year) is NO! And if she really wants to get her point across, it is NO WAY! This comes complete with a hand on her hip. We have entered the terrible two's a bit early. She pushes her mom to the limit, just to see what will happen. But great-grandma? One "Bella, no, do not touch that", and she is in tears. Great-grandma does not put up with being pushed, and I think it's hardwired into a child's DNA to know who they can shove, and who they can't.

Having two great grandchildren at age 64 is a delight. The delightful part is I get to come home at the end of the visit. I love them with all my heart, but help me, Rhonda they are a lot of work.

Have a great day.
Linda