New Life
Today the newest member of our family, Grace Lois Joan, first child of younger daughter and her husband, is two weeks old. Welcome to the world little girl. I have written before about the birth of a new grandchild. They are all different and this one has made me very aware of something I have thought before and never tried to articulate. It is one of the great pleasures of life to see your children parenting their own children. I never realised this when I was younger and I haven't seen much written about it. The pleasures of being a grandparent are widely celebrated, and they are very great, but the pleasures of seeing your adult children caring for their children have rather taken me by surprise. I never expected them to be so great and so lasting. When my children were young I both dreaded and longed for the days when they would be grown and responsible for themselves. I could not imagine them not needing me and not being at the centre of their lives and yet I cou