What being a gramma is all about!!!

Well it's been way to long since I've posted again, but sooo much has happened. Here's a brief recap.

My daughter Krystal and her two children, Areal & Aaron, flew in from Winnipeg in June. Her husband Troy arrived by van a few days later. They have temporarily moved in with us until Troy finds a new job. He's a minister and is currently interviewing in Southern & Eastern Ontario for a new church. Shawn (duckie) and Tracy got married on June 23rd. Troy and Aubrey flew back to Winnipeg on the 27th packed up the house and drove a very large cube van back here. Fortunately the furniture is in a storage facility here because my house is overfull of furniture & stuff in the best of times. Krystal & Troy left on another round trip to Winnipeg to finish cleaning out the house and hopefully to bring back what remains. If it won't all fit in their van, Troy will be making another trip later this month. Laurel called me last night with the news that Mike proposed! Fortunately for me they're not planning to be married until probably September of 2009. I'm still recovering from Shawn & Tracy's wedding. Now I just have to wait and see what Aubrey & Leandra will spring on me. With my luck they'll get married next year so I'll have 3 weddings in 3 years. Or possibly the same year as Laurel and Mike and I will just move into the poor house.

So, what does it mean to be a gramma? Well I have been blessed with 12 grandchildren - 6 boys and 6 girls. If anyone had ever told me that I would be this lucky (?) I would have laughed in their face. But seriously, I have truly been blessed.

I never really thought about what it would mean to be a gramma. I guess I was really lucky that I had two very wonderful, though very different grammas to learn from.

My mother's mother, Carrie Williams, who I always called Gramma Rock, was always there for hugs, kisses and treats to take home with me. Gramma was Onondaga, a native who couldn't speak much English, while I spoke even less Onondaga, but we could always communicate. My name for her came from me always asking her to 'rock gramma rock' when I was a little girl. She would pick me up on her lap and rock me in her chair. When I was a teenager and she would stay at our house for a few days she embarrassed me to no end by pulling me onto her lap in front of my friends. Not having much money to spend, she always made sure that I went home from a visit to her home with something - some home canned fruit, something that she had made or a part bag of gingersnaps. I had and still have long straight hair and she would ask me if I ironed it. I was fourteen when she died of cancer and one of my greatest regrets was that she did not live to see my children.

Gramma Asselin, my fathers mother, was very different. Visits always started and ended with a kiss, but she was not as affectionate as my other gramma. She was strict but loving. She was a very capable woman who always did her best. From her I learned that any job worth doing was worth doing right. She was an excellent seamstress and quilter and once made me take apart a dress that I had made by myself, correct my mistakes and resew it. She could cook up a storm and was an excellent baker. I have followed her footsteps in this. I was fortunate to have Gramma Asselin live until I was 32.


So where does that put me as a gramma. I would like to think somewhere in the middle with a few twists thrown in. I love my grandkids to death, yet don't believe in spoiling them. I like to tease them and to embarrass them at times. I also like to share my stories with them. Stories about my children, their parent, aunt or uncle. Stories about my life and their grandpas' lives. Stories about my parents and my grandparents. Family history is very important to me and I believe in passing it on. I have knit, crocheted and sewn for all of them and want to pass that ability on as well. I have cooked and baked for them and will pass down to them all of my recipes, as well as teach them how to cook. I think long and hard about the gifts that I buy for them, but I am very fair in treating them all equally. I'm not saying that I don't have favorites, but I try to find something special in each of them that is truly theirs alone that will make that child special to me. I can be very loving and affectionate, but I can also be stern and don't think twice about correcting them. I try to be their advocate whenever it's necessary. I offer advice but encourage them to make up their own minds. I frequently remind their parents what they were like at whatever age is currently driving mom & dad crazy. But most of all I tell them how much I love them.