Well, we have hit a kind of milestone this past month. Our little Rowan has passed her 6th month marker. And in that time I have come to wonder, what exactly was life like without her.

In this 6 month period, I sold my house, moved to Atlanta and have settled in to taking care of her 5 days a week. We have established a routine that works for all of us and I am able to enjoy her as well as keeping my independence, in relative close proximity.

I find myself at a loss for words in describing how much I am enjoying spending time with her and watching her slowly become more and more aware of the world around her. People told me how being a grandmother is so much more fun than parenting and how your grandchildren can make you into a totally different person than you were as a parent. I had no idea until I began to experience it.

Mind you there are many a day when I go home exhausted and just sit and stare at the TV for the rest of the evening.  But the next day when I see her, I fall in love even more deeply than the day before.

There are so many things that I cannot wait to do as she is now becoming more aware of things.  Things I want to teach her.  Places I want to take her.  And experiences I want to share with her.  Oh the possibilities!

One of the things I tell my son and daughter-in-law is that Rowan has, I believe, to a certain extent saved me from a  terrible path I was on.  My life was sedentary and I too often said to myself, I will walk tomorrow or go to the gym tomorrow and tomorrow, I found turned into the routine of the day before.  But since I have been in Atlanta, I have lost 13 pounds and taken 2 inches off my waistline.  That is from the daily workout I get in taking care of her.  So, for that I am happy!

Another great thing about being a grandparent is, my little Rowan is a social ice breaker.  When we are out, I can guarantee I will have multiple conversations with strangers about her, about grandparenting in general or just sharing our joys.  I have met a lot of people and have had great conversations with complete strangers time and time again.

I have to admit, I did not experience the fun like I should have with my own sons.  We had a great life and we had great times, but I was a single parent and I was stressed more often than not and the joys I should have allowed myself, I missed out on, at times.  It was hard.  It was scary.  And I felt totally responsible for how they  matured.  Being a grandparent removes that stress from you and allows you to experience total joy, total abandon and to hand them back to mom and dad and walk away when you want.  Now that truly is the best of both worlds.   And as Rowan is maturing, I am experiencing all of the firsts once again that I had experienced so long ago as a parent.  Her first teeth!  Her first sitting up.  Her first pulling herself up, etc.

And the best thing ever is seeing my son as a parent!  It does not get better than that to watch him use love, tenderness, gentleness and care with his baby girl.  When she smiles at him, his heart melts every single time.  And as I watch it, my heart soars with joy and gratitude to God for this wonderful circle of life.

Now I am leaving out the details of Rowan’s first 6 months.  But my daughter-in-law has a wonderful video she has created with all the specifics of Rowan’s first 6 months.  Just click on the link and enjoy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkpQTsEpqDI

So for now, these past few months have been the best!  But as we go forward, we will be looking at a couple days a week in daycare to allow her to build on that social part of development which includes interacting with peers.  And at that point I will expand my life more by getting involved in more social activities, which hopefully will include a book club and meeting people in my age group.  While I look forward to that, I am going to live my life fully with that fact that “Happiness is being a Grammy”!