It's hard to explain grandma's love

“I love babies!” my sister-in-law, Sue, exclaimed. She was cuddling her first grandchild as she spoke. She buried her face in the baby’s neck and inhaled her scent. She hugged baby Isabella and once again declared her love for this beautiful little girl. Isabella looked bored.
Later in the day my other sister-in-law, Diane, told me that people had tried to tell her what being a grandmother was like but that there were no words for how wonderful it felt to watch her daughter be a mom to her first-born, Eloise. There were no words to express the intense love she felt for her new granddaughter.
Sue is known as Grammy Sue while Diane has chosen Gigi as her new title. I am known as Grandma far, far, away. Whatever moniker is chosen, grandparents are often blindsided by the emotion a new baby evokes.
To be fair, not everyone falls head over heels in love with babies. That is OK. We all have different priorities and viewpoints. Some people prefer children to infants. Some people prefer full grown humans to young ones. Some people just want to be left alone. Again, there is nothing wrong with any of those preferences.
Personally, I think that one of the most pleasant feelings on earth is the heavy feel of a sleeping baby on my chest. It seems that Grammy Sue and Gigi agree with me.
Watching a daughter grow into the kind of mother all babies should have brings a special joy. It is love mixed with pride with a dash of amazement tossed in. There is even a bit of jealousy as we see our daughters handling motherhood better than we thought we did ourselves. To Grammy Sue, Gigi and I, our daughters are still little girls who just yesterday were babies themselves. To realize that we are old enough to be grandmothers takes some getting used to. To know that our daughters are old enough to be mothers boggles our imaginations.
Baby Isabella is six months old already. Eloise’s age is still being measured in weeks. Both Grammy Sue and Gigi spend as much time as possible with the girls. We all know how quickly they grow and change.
My own grandchildren are past the adorable baby phase. They are into any and everything. The latest picture I received shows the boys with a mess of fish. They had gone fishing with one of their grandfathers and caught enough to feed a crowd. It will be awhile before Isabella and Eloise are old enough to go fishing. Right now, their main talent is being cute.
Unlike Sue and Diane, I don’t get to visit as often as I would like. In fact, it has been so long since we have made the lengthy drive that our youngest grandson now says I don’t exist. We shall have to prove him wrong.
All three of us love our children and grandchildren unconditionally. We have different passions and abilities. Sue is the artist and will surely pass her talent on to Isabella as she did with her own girls. Diane is fun loving and full of life. Her happiness will seep into Eloise’s personality. We are all a part of each other.
Sue loves Isabella. Diane loves Eloise. I love all of my grandchildren. This is as it should be. Grandmothers are important to a child. All children are our future and should be cherished and nurtured as much as Isabella and Eloise surely will be. Everyone should be so lucky as to be loved that intensely. Perhaps if they were the world would be a better place.