Julie and I are fortunate enough to have all four grandmothers still alive and kickin’. It never fails that when we take the time to see them, they always tell us goodbye and say, “you should come see us more often.” What grandkid has ever heard that before and NOT been overcome with guilt? When we think to explain our busy lives we try to find reasons within the society that our generation has created, but then even that answer doesn’t even sound good in our head. Grandparents have that special place in our hearts that we respect and love in a completely different way than any other relative, and we all do our best make time for them in our lives.

For each of our grandmothers, we set aside the time to talk-to or visit with them to share the news. Julie called Grandma Killam in Temple. We stopped by Granny Reasonover’s house during the 12 hours that Julie and I were together in town after my Costa Rica trip and before her Washington trip. We visited with my dad’s mom and stepdad, Mama B and Papa Roy after church on Sunday. I talked to Grandma Pribyl on the phone while she was in Houston celebrating Uncle Joe’s birthday with most of my mom’s siblings.

Each event was special to us. However, what we’ve realized is that we certainly played it up more in our heads than what actually happened. We realized that our grandparents have done this before… this isn’t news of their first child, or grandchild, and in most cases even first great-grandchild. Our grandmothers are seasoned veterans and the news of new life… just isn’t new!!

Now, I’m not saying they weren’t happy for us. Each of them had responses of joy and congratulations, but it’s like they either already KNEW it, or it was just another verse to a song they’ve heard before. I guess you could compare it to the economic law of Diminishing Returns.

-RB