Generational Joy

Dear Jack,

You have something that I never had, and it's not a red swing. But I didn't have one of those, either.

You have a great-grandpa. You actually have a grandpa and a great-grandpa and three grandmas and a great grandma and at least three great aunts who act like they are your grandmas. You are a lucky little boy.

I took you and your sister out to El Campo to see Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Nolen. You were greeted with hugs and kisses, toys and the promise of yummy banana pudding.

Of course, one of the nice things about great grandparents is that when you don't like their special-recipe-everyone-likes-this-treat banana pudding, they will still let you eat all of the left over Nilla Waffers and I bet that next visit, more Nilla Waffers will be "left over" than this time.

Outside, you got into the bird bath and the dog's water bowl. I told Grandpa I had a change of clothes for you and so I wasn't worried. "In that case," he said, "Want me to get out the pool?"

Well, of course we wouldn't say no to a pool!

After the pool, I got you changed into that spare outfit I told Grandpa I had for you and while you played, I held your cousin Jamie. It didn't take you long to realize I had another baby in my arms and while I would like to say that those were love taps you were giving her, I am not so sure and you were on your way to waking her anyway, so Aunt Rachel picked you up and put you where you wanted to be. Jamie can have your mama only if she shares.

During this time, we got to have a very special treat. Your Uncle Ken sang for us. I hear that he doesn't do concerts that often any more. I for one had never been offered the chance to hear one. I loved the "Dear Abby" song and we all cried a little when he sang a special song he wrote for Aunt Rachel and Uncle James called "Love You Same." Mostly, what resonated with me, though, was how old fashioned and wholesome the whole thing felt. I remember reading The Little House on the Prairie books about how Pa would play the fiddle to entertain everyone or how Marianne Dashwood entertained with the pianoforte in Sense and Sensibility and was fascinated by the idea of musically gifted people being such a value in pre-radio, pre-television, pre-internet and ipod and everything else world. Please don't think that I'm saying your Uncle Ken is truly part of that old world; only that listening to his gift made me think that he maybe could have been.

It was very special to me for you and your sister and your cousins to be there with Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Nolen. They love you so much without getting to see you very much (and therefore without knowing you that well) just because you are a Nolen and because they remember your dad and your grandpa when they were little boys just like you are now. I cannot fathom what it must be like for them to see their sweet boy's son's baby boy, but I sure hope I get to find out.

Love,
Mom