Good times with family

 

Oh how I love those grandbabies! I have three and not so much babies now. My grandson is nine years old, his sister is six years old and the little one will shortly turn four years old. We don’t get to see them enough as we live three hours away and the roads between are not the nicest to travel. The road for the first half of the trip is windy and hilly. During bad weather there are often slips and there are always roadworks to slow us down. Fortunately the speed limit has been lowered and there are fewer accidents.

We used to visit the family for a few days every six weeks and they would come to us a couple of times a year—much harder for them with the whole family and a dog to pack up! Once we retired and with the cost of petrol rising, it became very two months and now sometimes borders on three. We are finding as we get older we are not quite as confident travelling over this particular road. We always stop around halfway and have a coffee and something nice to eat so that certainly helps the journey.

We generally arrive just before lunch. If the children are home when we arrive there are enthusiastic greetings and hugs then a familiar refrain, “what’s in the red bag Grammy?”

Ah yes, the red bag. The red bag always contains a little gift or treat for them. Nothing expensive, these children are thrilled with whatever comes out of the red bag even if it is just a lollipop. The red bag often contains art projects, activity books, small packs of lego and small ‘girlie’ things such as a pretty hair clip, a tiny unicorn or a wee doll. Or it might be a small chocolate bar or bag of popcorn. They always look forward to delving into Grammy’s red bag.

The children are very active outside if the weather is fine so bike rides, walks and trips to the playground are normal as is playing in the sandpit, helping in the garden and other home activities. Grammy and Poppy join in as able. Our daughter in law is wonderful and our daughter is part of her brother’s household so it is always a wonderful time of togetherness, talking around the meal table, on the floor playing, out for coffee as well as the other more vigorous pursuits.

We come home exhausted but extremely thankful to be able to be a part of this family. We do not have the chance to do much in the way of babysitting so being fully involved in the few days we are there is important to us.

Cherish your families; spend quality time with them; get off the cell phone! God had a reason for putting people in families! Your family is far more important than anything else you may do in life. Make family (and friends) a priority.

God bless your family time.