I finally get to tell my secret: I’m going to be a grandmother!
Whew! I have been about to explode. My son, who is 26, and my 25-year-old daughter-in-law are expecting a baby in May.
They told me — appropriately — on Labor Day. My birthday was Aug. 30, but we had a late dinner celebration.
My gift was a tiny Onesie with “Mimi and Pop Pop - May 2017” printed on it. I started crying immediately and acted like a complete idiot.
I kept asking, “Are you kidding?” Really? Do people announce they’re having a baby just for kicks?
Then, I said, “How did you …? ” I have no idea where my mind was going. I have two children. Of course, I know about the birds and the bees. I think I was about to ask how they found out, or how they kept it a secret.
I told them it was my best birthday present ever, and it was.
My son, of course, videoed this moment. My husband was happy, but he made his hands into fists and put them under his chin.
“I didn’t know what to do with my hands,” he said later.
Wow. What weirdos this baby is getting for grandparents.
We call ourselves Mimi and Pop Pop to our son and daughter-in-law’s dogs, Zorro and Tilley.
Of course, whatever this sweetie pie wants to call us is fine. I dreamed up Nano for my mother’s mother; my dad’s mother was Granny. I had a Granddaddy and a Papaw.
My mom is Grandmomma, and my dad is PawPaw to their grandchildren.
This will be my parents’ first great-grandchild, which is exciting. My mother screamed when she got the card my son and daughter-in-law gave her to announce it. Her first question — and my dad’s — was, “Is it a girl?”
Bless their hearts, the last girl born in the immediate family was me — 53 years ago. Mom and Dad have four grandsons, whom they’re crazy about, but they’re itching for a girl.
It’s too early to tell. Will it be a boy with a head full of blond hair, like his daddy had? A beautiful little girl with blue eyes like her mother?
We do know there’s just one, despite the dream my daughter-in-law had about twins, which are in her family. The ultrasound
pictures are adorable — I’ll be happy to show them to you on my phone, should you run into me.
I bought my daughter-in-law a picture frame for the grainy, black-and-white ultrasound image of a teeny baby. On the frame, it says: “Already Sweet; Already Perfect; Already Loved.”
All true.
When I bought it, the sales clerk congratulated me and said, “You’ll be amazed at how your heart will just expand.”
Everyone who has grandchildren keeps telling me how wonderful it is. It’s like the embroidered pillow my mom had that said, “If I’d known grandchildren were this much fun, I
would have had them first.”
I am beside myself with excitement. I am going to order myself a shirt that has printed on it, “I can’t keep calm; I’m going to be a grandmother.”
No, I’m not the first person to ever have grandchildren. But this is my first, and I’m delirious about it.
I’ll have a brand-new baby to love, and a whole new topic to write about.
Get ready. Only seven more months to go.
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.