Papaw and Gramma

 Rodney's mother lost her battle with breast cancer about 8 years ago. It is heartbreaking that she was not able to meet Emma and Ethan in person, but I believe she is with us. She sees them. She loves them. There are moments when I am holding the babies that I can honestly feel her presence and I know that she is smiling. This may sound a little far-fetched, but when they were infants, there were even moments that I could swear the babies might even have seen her spirit standing there.

I show them her picture in the hallway and tell them, "That's your grandma, Nancy," and they repeat me. From the rocking chair in their room, they can see the picture down the hall, and on a few occasions when I've been rocking them at night, Emma has looked down the hall and said, "Grandma." It makes me happy.

I know that she's proud of the man her son has become, and I know that she is happy that her parents are able to spend so much time with her twin grandbabies. I also know that she approves of her husband's progress in his life as well, and that she smiles on the partnership he has found in his new wife, Janis. She is in a place where there is no jealousy and no bitterness. She is in a place where there is only love. The kids call Janis "Gramma." Janis loves them very much. We all love her too. She didn't have children herself, so I know it must bring her special joy to be called Gramma and to watch them grow.

They live out of town so we don't get to see them very often, but when we do, we enjoy ourselves so much. We always have so much to catch up on. They live on a beautiful piece of property by the lake about an hour and a half away. The kids enjoy exploring all over the place. This summer they loved walking through the vegetable garden and digging in the dirt for potatoes with their dad and their Papaw.

Emma is very affectionate with her Papaw and it amazes me. She is very selective with her affection and she doesn't get to see him that much. He must have that special Papaw Magic. Maybe it is because he turns his attention towards them for most of the time that they are together. He speaks in a loving tone and tells them that they're Papaw's babies.

On our most recent visit, Gramma let Emma play with some old colorful glasses with the lenses popped out, and she thought it was the greatest thing ever. Mommy never lets her play with her glasses. She even let her play with some pretty, old watches. Emma walked around the living room like a queen with her glasses that fit her face surprisingly well, and her arms bent out in front of her, so as not to drop her bracelets. Papaw said she looked sophisticated and I said she looked like she had freshly painted fingernails and didn't want to mess them up.

Papaw let Ethan play with all of his duck calls. He showed them how they all sound and Ethan said, "Loud sound!" and "Loud sound again!"  Then he hung them all on Ethan's neck. He was so excited! But he just couldn't seem to make a loud sound himself. His wind pipe wasn't strong enough to make the duck calls work. We kept trying to tell him to take a deep breath and really puff! Finally, he was able to and he didn't stop for a long time. "Loud sound again!" Papaw even gave him a very special duck call, one that his dad had given him. Now, when we're at home, Ethan wants his special duck call all the time and makes plenty of loud sounds whenever he wants.

After we played inside and ate a big Thanksgiving dinner, we all went on a walk through the yard by the garden plot and out past the shed.

When Papaw sat down at the picnic table for a rest, Ethan took him by the hand and pulled him, pushed at his body, telling him to "get up." Papaw let himself be led by the tiny child on another walk. For some reason, Ethan kept stopping to scratch his back on the trees, much like a bear does. Emma followed along and started scratching on the trees too. Then, Papaw even scratched his back on the tree! It looked like Emma and Ethan were trying to teach Papaw the ways of the wilderness, The Three Bears. I wonder where they learned that!

After their walk, Ethan wanted Papaw to sit in the swing and let him run back and forth into his arms and back to Momma. Then, he gave his papaw a walnut from the ground, a reward for his good behavior. "Did you get a gift?" yelled Gramma from the picnic table.

Papaw smiled, nodded his head, held up two fingers and said, "Two."