This ' n That

OK - I decided to start a blog - not so that people can follow my life, (because seriously, who really cares?), but because I am of the opinion that there should be grandmother (or grandmommy) blogs instead of mommy blogs. I mean really, young mothers don't have the experience, grandmothers do! Of course I realize that youth trumps experience in this day and age, but I think that grandmothers can truly offer some real advice to young mothers. And as I recall, when I was a young mother, I didn't have time to search for answers to my everyday problems. Of course, there was no Internet, no blogs, no Twitter, no Facebook. I called my mother to ask for help when I needed it. So, here goes, whatever it's worth.

My only daughter's wedding was two weeks ago in a city three hours away. I suggested that she have it there since we have very little family left in our hometown and she has been there since she began college in 2002. It was a beautiful wedding - the culmination of a year's work of brainstorming, daily emails, phone calls and lots of money. Overall, we had a couple of minor skirmishes, but throughout the process, she and I grew even closer than we had been. Now she is married to the man of her dreams, with a new house to decorate and maintain and a demanding job as a fourth grade teacher. I am going to miss the closeness that we shared up to this point and I will have to be relegated to an "as needed" or "on call" basis. Oh and my baby boy is off to college in August and my husband and I will be "empty nesters", but I will save that for a later post. That's OK. I knew it was coming and it's a good thing that I have many other interests.

Back to the wedding! The wedding was also a wonderful opportunity to gather the people that we care about the most for a celebration of love. Family and friends came from as far away as Wisconsin and Chicago to Florida, Alabama and Texas to help us celebrate our daughter's marriage to a wonderful man. We saw family that we hadn't seen in years. My brother, who is a Methodist minister in Texas came to say the vows. To have someone who has known my daughter from her birth perform the ceremony made the wedding so special. I tell you, it got pretty emotional.

The afternoon before the ceremony, the professional photographer who was tres cher but fantastique, (www.shaunringphotography.com) came to take photos of my daughter as she was dressing at the hotel. I was helping her with her dress and it was going just fine until I helped her put on my pearls. I thought about the many times that I had dressed her as a little girl, putting on my jewelry, helping her fasten her shoes - and then the tears started falling. I couldn't put my finger on it at the time, but when I thought about it later, I realized that this would be the last time that I would help her get dressed. Of course, the photographer was snapping pictures right and left and I was thinking all the while "I am not a pretty crier, so the pictures won't be any good!" Alright, I'm sure you are asking yourselves right about now - what is the point to this post?

Well, my ladies, my point is this. Treasure those mundane moments with your babies. Dressing them, kissing the chubby folds of their arms, letting them wear your jewelry, even wiping their dirty bottoms. Because one day these mundane moments will become poignant memories that you will wish that you could once again revisit. Your lives are busy - too busy sometimes to really live in the moment with your children. And then the time is lost and you don't have the chance again. Good advice, huh? Take this advice, young mothers or you will one day wish you had! That's all for this post, but as soon as the professional photos of the wedding are ready, I will perhaps post one or two!