EireLandings Interrupted just before Avoca...

Stayed Tuned...

       SO...for those of you who have been following my Ireland travelogue stayed tuned, the next installment is almost ready.  Of course you can always find out when the newest has arrived online if you click the subscribe tab on the right side of the blog page or if you are a Facebook Friend of mine because I always post the link for the newest piece.  Failing those options, just keep checking in!

     FOR the last few days I have been wonderfully distracted by a 34 inch, 21 month old being with crazy hair all over her head and a face who looks up at me with arms raised, and says "hi" in a tiny yet booming, confident voice.  When I pick her up, she puts her pointed index finger on my shoulder and with that strong little voice announces her transliteration of my self-imposed appellation of "Grammy" into her very own new name for me which is "Mimi".  I'm melted. 

      THIS second granddaughter is as magical as the first who is now 7 1/2.  When the first was born it was beyond my wildest expectations.  Naturally I was excited and I looked forward to the birth, which was supposed to be on my birthday and wasn't.  But, I could not have predicted the overwhelming emotion that swept through my heart, soul, and body instantaneously as my son-in-law placed her in my arms when she was 45 minutes old.  Having known my maternal great-grandmother into my 20s and having had an exceptionally close relationship with my grandmother, I thought of them and of my own  mother, my daughter, this new little girl, and I was immedately struck with the image of a Russian doll, each one nesting within the other in successively smaller sizes - those who have gone before and those who are yet to come.  This second miracle was also to have been born on my birthday, but as with all of the women in my maternal line, independent and strong-willed, she also decided to have her own day!

       I AM all too familiar with the brief and fragile nature of life but looking into the large wide eyes of a child, especially one of "my own", I feel the hope and dreams of generations past being catapulted beyond the current moment and into the future.  Life ends, life remains, life comes again, and again, and again.  And life is always what we each make of it.  When we have a loving moment with a child, life is at its best.  God is there.

      IT IS more than a singluar blessing to have the time and opportunities to spend extended visits with both of the girls of my girls. It is humbling, sweet, moving, hilarious, and life-giving.  In the inevitable moments of self-doubt, sadness, loneliness, weariness, or frustration, a blast of the true love of a child - my 7 1/2 year old triplet nephews well included - makes the world bright, light, and filled with happy music.   And yes, I am painfully aware of the untold millions of children who go hungry, unloved, abused, neglected, and in horribly dire circumstances in this country and around the globe.  I do what is possible for me to do to support organizations and people who work hard to alleviate that suffering.  But I cannot let that anguish diminish the joy that my heart feels in the little moments of love I am given by these precious lives that make my own worth living.  Even as we all take and are taken for granted by those we love best at some point, I am being intentional in soaking up the delicious rays of sunshine that emanate from the children in my life, storing up those treasures for the rainy days that show up now and then.  Photos on my phone texted by their proud moms give me a heart surge beyond defining - for the pix, the kids, and their moms and for me as delighted recipient and also proud mom, aunt, and Grammy/Mimi. 

      NOW that I have settled in for this visit, the pieces that have been writing and re-writing in my head for days will soon find their way to this space.  I hope you will, too.   Avoca, Ireland is next up...