Friday, June 08, 2007

Fireworks for Miss Junie

Purplebabydaddies is not only involved in the making of art, we also are involved in producing fabulous people and puppies (4 week old shi-chi pics in a day or two)....

So yes, we've been working hard making artwork, but the big news is that, Oh my, Miss June has turned two this week!

I swear to you, one day they are newborns and the next day they are 25. It happens faster than you think, all of you young families out there. I remember how grueling being a young parent can be, the sleeplessness, the tantrums, the endless laundry, so trust me, I'm not here lecturing.

Being a parent is one of the most rewarding and yet hardest things you will ever do, but the amazing thing is that, one day, they are newborns, and then the next day, they are all grown up, with newborns of their own. I'm not kidding, life may be long, but it can also go very fast.....Advice to take or leave: listen to the grandparents in your life, when they suggest that you savor these years and realize that parenting your children will be the most important thing that you ever do (along with all of the other very important things that you do).

But I digress, what is this grand-parenting phenomenom? I mean we love our kids but then our grandchildren come along and you LOVE them, just like that, in CAPITOL LETTERS and it's not just me, this is a "thing", a "condition". My fellow grand-parent friends are infected too, so I know it's not just Markel and I. A common explanation that I hear is that grand-parents go ga-ga because they don't have the same responsibility for the kids that they once had with their own children so they enjoy them more, but I don't think that's all of it, maybe a part, but not the big important reason.

I think the love and connection is heightened also because of the gained perspective of the time factor; you realize how fleeting and precious these years of littleness are, and how important they are in building self-esteem, sense of self, all of the things that make the foundations for a healthy adult....and you don't get those years back. Speaking for myself and some of my friends we've realized some things that we would have liked to have done better with our own children, from that birds-eye-view perspective. One thing I know for certain is that you want to be sure to arm these precious babies with as much strength of character, kindness, and integrity as you can, as they go out into this complicated world we live in as independant adults.

Grandparents have seen that those teeming little bundles of emotion, willfullness, and desire that you alternately wrangle and are enchanted by on a daily basis, do grow up and become adults, who you can actually enjoy as fellow adult people, even when they are still your children ....or your own parents for that matter, the great-grand-parents. My parents are still the life of every party, cracking jokes, singing songs, talking politics. I remember watching their parties from the bannister. Now we are at the parties all together. How wonderful to appreciate them as parents, children, and as peers.

Amazing to think that, god willing and a firm knock on wood, Markel and I will have the pleasure of enjoying our grandchildren as adults some day as well. Right now though, I am delighted with their delightful and delicious, 2-year and 8 year-old-ishness.

We have two other daughters who haven't even gotten started on this whole baby thing and when they do we'll want to go and be with them....that will be a juggle because one is in New Hampshire and the other one is in Manhattan (they are both talking about having babies in the next few years)and then we have these darlings in Michigan.....

My opinionated opinion is that this country is just too big and in our culture we all go apart way too easily. I like the idea of families doing the best that they can to stay in the same vicinity, though I know it isn't always possible, and breaks a lot of hearts. As artists we are lucky; we can make our art work anywhere.....and voila, here we are back at art.
this is our darling Michael, who will always be our first grandchild......and who likes to be assured that we remember that.
diligently waiting for birthday dinner (which was well worth the wait)....
my darling birthday girl with her new Dora the explorer doll, and moi.

oh and psssssst: If you came here looking for art, not my musings on being a grand-parent, click on design line on the list of labels or click on this- leslie and markel's original art.....that will at least get you started.
Ciao!



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