Our grandparent love pass starts early.
Last night, my almost 3-yr-old grandson chose me over his mom to help him with something. My daughter wisely rested in her mommy role, knowing this was just a moment in time when he was widening his circle of interaction with adults.
When parents let our love pass operate--and we use it within the parents' rules and restrictions--everyone is richer for the experience.
We remember, as adolescents, how nearly any adult besides a parent suited whatever occasion in which we found ourselves. We often listened to every adult except mom and dad.
We gave out love passes and found our way with this new input, maturing back into realizing parent wisdom was there all along.
It seems God created grandparents to be a safe testing ground for children to realize more adults can mean more love, more joy, more wisdom, more experiences--more popsicles.
We are fresh sets of hugs and kisses, excursions, energy and delight. Since we no longer carry the daily grind of parenting, we can have a few packed days of giving our all just when parents feel they are all given out. Our extra leg of support helps parents keep stride.
As we pour out to the kids, we must be so careful, so mindful of tender parent feelings. Never should we feel smug in our love pass because we are only temporary in their landscape, brief explosions of love like fun fireworks, not to be confused with the deep, everyday devotion of parents.
We had our turn. Our best gift to parents is to fit within our frame--be the best fireworks we can be--and then rest until we can serve again.
Tomorrow: Dueling Agendas.
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