Grateful for Grandparents

When I was a little girl

I always looked forward to baking cookies with my Grandma. She never had a recipe in front of her and never measured anything. I asked her one time, “Grandma, how come you don’t ever use measuring cups? “And she told me, “Grandma’s just know”. A phrase that has stuck with me my entire life.

I was lucky enough to grow up 10 miles from both sets of grandparents and even had my Great-Grandma in my life until I was 17. They were very special to me so I can relate when my daughter gets so excited when I say we’re going to Grandma’s house! My kids don’t get to grow up 10 miles away from their grandparents, it’s more like 2-3 hours away, but we still get to see them often and for that we are so grateful. My parents and in-laws have been (and continue to be) there for us through everything. Just recently, my mom took a couple days off work just to come up and be with the kids so I could vomit in private rather than have 4 little eyes staring at me while my husband was out of town for work. My mom… my hero. My mother-in-law has come up on several occasions to stay with the girls if our daycare is closed, the girls are sick or just because she needs time with them…anything. Grandmas, ya know.

Life is scary

Having several friends who have lost their parents to cancer or other diseases at such young ages has been painful. . . but not even close to the heartache they have felt. We have had a couple scares of our own. In 2014 – right before my first daughter was born – my mother-in-law was diagnosed with stage 4 thyroid cancer.  She’s currently going through her annual screenings and we’re praying for the best.

In 2013 my father-in-law was diagnosed with a rare complication from the west nile virus that hospitalized him for basically 2 months. As hard as those times were for our family, they brought my husband and I closer together and made us both so thankful and grateful for the time we still have with our parents and the time our children have with their loving, loving grandparents.  

Putting things in perspective

Doesn’t the hard times just put things in perspective for you? I know it does for me. I have to admit, an extra day or two at my parent’s house can make me go crazy (sorry mom) but the fact that I still have them to go back to wins every time. I love thinking of all the memories our girls are making while watching their grandparents bake, garden, give them rides in the combine and on the 4-wheeler. It brings back memories for me, how important and meaningful that was for me growing up. I’m lucky to have three of my grandparents still with me… and to this day I still feel like a little girl when I hug them, bake with them or even still cuddle in next to them.

My plea to you

For those whose parents are still with you, love them, hug them and don’t let them go. If you are some of the lucky few that still have Grandparents in your life… tell them what they mean to you. Listen to their stories, ask questions that you won’t get to ask them when they’re gone. And if there’s something that has come in between the relationship with your parents or grandparents – we all know there are hard times – promise yourself to try and make an effort. An effort to make it right. You will thank yourself and your children will too. It’s not going to be perfect and it’s not going to be easy but… I know of too many people that would give anything to have those loved ones back for just one second. To hug them, to kiss them or to call them every morning to complain about how many times their toddler needed to change her shoes before they got out the door. Not only will you be giving your children those memories, you are giving them to your parents too… and for that… they will be so grateful.

Kelsi
Kelsi is a small-town girl at heart living in what her dad calls ‘the big city’. She is a wife to Joe and mom to girls, Harper (3 year) and Kollins (9 months). She has a chocolate lab named Rollie who can prove to be the most high-maintenance of them all. Besides being a wife & mom Kelsi works full-time at a local non-profit. In her spare time, she loves traveling around NE visiting family, Husker game days, friends, drinks and patios.