Call Me Grandma Dawn

I haven't really gotten into the rhythm of thinking in terms of blogging yet. The rest of you seem to do it so easily. It is one of the reasons I resisted starting. There is so much I could say about the last years of our lives with our prodigal, but I'm not sure how much to share. I'll be thinking about it, praying about it, and asking my son if he cares.

I was named Call me Grandma Dawn by my daughter, who writes beautifully is Mama's So-Called Life. I always knew she was a good writer, but I am amazed every day by her descriptions - and also those of her cousins. My entire identity is not as a grandma, but it certainly has added a new dimension to my life.

I spend half of my time here at my desk at the same large university where she works. We live close together, so the switch-off with the kids works well. She meets me at noon on Tuesday and goes to work, when I take the kids home. Many times Care Bear wants to run around campus and eat at the restaurant with the Star (Carl's Junior), see the piano in the student center, run down the hill behind the student center, go see the fountain outside the Engineering Building. She loves routine and always wants to repeat everything in just the order she did it before.

For instance, on Fridays we go to the library for story time. Then we have to get a few books and videos. One day I took them to KFC on the way home - now it's a routine she wants to repeat every Friday. She discovered the Dairy Queen next door to KFC as she was eating one Friday (well, eating is a pretty broad term for what she does - she mostly doesn't eat!), so we had to add a kiddie cone to the routine. She's a character!

Then there's Fiesty who has a 7-year-old boyfriend (she's 2). Of course, she's oblivious to the devotion this little guy has for her. His mom is one of the church babysitters and she is absolutely crazy about the girls. Her only son looked at Fiesty one day and said, "You're the only girl for me, Fiesty (well, he used her real name!). One day his dad said, "She's so young, Will, she's just a baby." He said, "She'll get older!" The other day his mom reminded him that Fiesty will want to have a say in whether or not they get married someday. He said, "Well, mom, I have the latest Play Station, I have all the Veggie Tales videos, and I've asked Jesus into my heart - what more could she want?" Yes, indeed, what more could she want?