Bringing Presents Home

I got a lot of compliments while I was at my grandparent's house. A lot of "oh it's so good of you!" A lot of "thank you"s. It's wonderful to have people who are so nice, so appreciative. I appreciate the appreciativeness! Thank you! Oh no, thank YOU. It warms up my little heart to have all this undeserved admiration. My aunt trying to saint me and my grandparents behaving as though the shrimp casserole was a 10 star delicacy. Oh, how J would have enjoyed laughing about that. But the truth is, Peanuts, well. I know the truth. The truth is that staying some weeks and making a few meals is chump change. The truth is that I should be there, all the time, to run over when things break or people need one. I'm not there. This is my family, and I'm not there. There is no excuse for that, and not even a plane ticket and some pies can buy one.
Do you know that when I was two, my parents went to Europe and I stayed with my grandparents. And I got chicken pox. POX! Can you imagine the incredible ick-ness that would constitute a hybrid of pox and toddler? I shudder to imagine. But I remember my grandmother rocking me in the dark. I remember my grandaddy reading in funny voices to distract me from the itching. They took such good care of me. They did that a lot.
Even if my time and casseroles were some kind of gift, believe me I have a large love-and-care debt I could never pay down. And anyways the truth is that this time was so much more a gift to Little One and to me that it ever could be to anyone else. Raising children is hard, but it helps to have them around people who set the kind of example for what a person should be that I am not wise or learned or good enough to do every day. It helps to have Her walking around in the radiant haze of love that has been amplified over generations, the kind only great-grandparents can have built up over a lifetime. It helps to have someone with the patience and willingness and time to teach Her things the right way; slowly, surely, repeatedly, with care. Little One left knowing so many new things. You better believe She knows where her napkin goes at dinner time. And how to gather pinecones. And that She is cherished.
What better gift could there be than that? And me? I made some pies. I ran some errands. But I'm still a rookie, learning about this whole "married" thing, this "parent" thing. This whole crazy "life" thing. I was a student under the best of teachers. And besides, I'm the grandbaby. Love amplified by two generations is pretty potent stuff too. I soaked it in.
We eventually had to go home. I wish it was a trip around the corner and not across the country. I really, really do. But we flew home and are trying to hold everything they gave us in our pockets, taking them out sometimes to remind us that some things just. matter. more. We are feeling lucky and thankful.

We miss them. We think they miss us too. Although I'm sure they do not miss the mess. Or maybe so.