Help Me Grammy!

Help Me Grammy!

Each of our grandchildren has gone through phases, both with their parents, other grandparents, and with us.  Sometimes, they are mommy’s girls, daddy’s boy, J-Pa or Paw-Paw’s favorite, or Nana’s or Grammy’s little one.  Our youngest granddaughter is twenty-two months old, and for most of her life, she has adored my husband Pawpaw.  She still does, but, following a couple of weeks together at Disney World and here during Spring Break, she has decided that I, better known as Grammy, have some uses, too.

We established a bit of ritual at Disney World when, each evening, after returning to the resort, Jamie and Nicole would begin an assembly of bath time to get the children cleaned up from the day in the park and ready to put down for the night.  Nora, the youngest, got the first bath.  As soon as she was dressed, they would bring her to me, with her blanket and pacifier, and I would rock her to sleep, holding her in my arms until all the others were bathed, dressed, and down.  Finally, when they had drifted off, Jamie would put Nora in her little bed.

It became a sweet time for both Nora and me, keeping her out of the hubbub of getting the older children to bed, yet giving her some special one on one attention, as well.  At home, the children are wonderfully trained to simply go to bed on a schedule and they have always put themselves to sleep, for the most part.

When Nicole came to visit with the children last week, though, Nora decided she liked the Disney World way of going to bed.  Each night that Nicole was here, Nora would head for my arms, with me in the rocker, locate her blanket and her pacifier, and bury her head in my shoulder.  However, her bedroom was upstairs, and as soon as Nicole got the other children down, she would reach to take Nora upstairs.

Nora did not like the change in routine.  She would begin to call, "Grammy.  Help.  Out.  Grammy, Grammy!"  Even after falling asleep, I could hear her on her monitor, after she would awaken, "Grammy, Grammy. Help.  Out!" She would get louder and louder, knowing without doubt that it would just be a few moments until Grammy would appear at the top of the stairs.  You see, Nora had learned that we have a love relationship and that she can trust me to respond to her.  I love to listen for her to call me, and I rush to make sure that she knows I heard her and answered her.

God reminded me through this sweet, bonding time of how much He loves me.  In Isaiah 65:24, God said "And it shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear."  If I, in my imperfect capacity of love, am willing to rush upstairs and all but run to get to her when she needs me, how much more does my Heavenly Father love me with a perfect love as He hears my every plea and answers my every prayer!  

© 2011 Gerry Sisk

(07/06/11)