Granny Then, Granny Now

When it was then I was a Granny who supplied the bubble box which became the frothy lake Mary used to let the Fisher Price Wee People swim around in while she enjoyed her bath. I was a Granny who taught both grandgirls how to make Play Doh bird nests with eggs and birds in them. I pushed kids skyward in their swings for what seemed like hours. Alicia and I played store on her little patio table and we used bark chips for money. Mary and I "played dogs" with stuffed ones or pretend ones most of our times together because dogs were her favorite things. I stroked Alicia's arms and back at nap time and watched her drift off to sleep.  One time when I was on the bed beside her, she curled her little self against my chest and went to sleep with a little happy sigh as a fresh spring breeze wafted  over both of us from one of the season's first open windows. We played Barbies endlessly. Remember Boobs Clea and her sister Boobs?  They left us by means of a garage sale along with the  books we read (good-by, Bing!  So long, Spot! We won't forget you, Otto!). Some other lucky girls are arranging furniture in the doll houses that moved away. Puzzles, games, Lite Brite sets and all manner of art supplies and projects are gone, gone, gone. 
But the fun things at Granny's are still at Granny's. What happened at Granny's stays at Granny's. She's not ready to give them up.

Now that it's now, Granny gets hugs and writes checks. And these are truly satisfactory things to do. But teaching Romeo and Juliet to Mary was amazing. It was a goal of mine to be the first person to present Shakespeare to her and I barely made it. I was just a few weeks ahead of her English teacher. And witnessing Alicia's passion for dance has stunned me with the chance to watch a person pursue a physical activity with the same energy that I pursue reading. 

The pleasures of Grannying are different now but just as fulfilling.