Legacies :: Great Grand Style

Its that time again.  That time that always follows the best of times.  Because Handsome has the more restrictive schedule (read: any schedule at all), we always plan visits around it.  And so when people come down,they generally stay for as long as he can get work off.  Which means on the  morning that our visitors go home, he also goes to work, and Duke & I (and now, RG) are left in the house, with the remnants of good memories and a fridge full of restaurant leftovers.

G&G came down this weekend.  That's how they sign their cards, every time - <3 G&G.  They are Riley's great-grandparents.  I'm so glad, so blessed, so happy that Rileygirl has had a chance to meet her great grandparents and make memories with them.  I have similar memories with my great grands, ones that I only actually remember because they were captured on grainy VHS and watched over and over again as kids.  And now, my girl will have memories like that, and hopefully many more!

I can't wait to tell her how her Grammy missed her so much that she braved 12 hours in the car with Grampa & his driving, a feat Gram claims as harrowing and death-defying.  I can't wait to tell her how her Grampa, a bear of a man who values hard work above nearly all else, took vacation days just to come see her.  How they both waited with anticipation while she slept just for the next time she'd wake up and they could see her precious face again.  How Gram, even though her knees hurt, would climb the stairs, "Just to peek in".  

I look forward to the days when Riley says to me "Mama, tell me again about my crib..." and I can tell her how her Grampa worked the wood with his own hands, in the evenings on on his days off from his more-than-full-time job, to make it for her.  How he sanded and sanded and measured and measured and made sure that the slats were close enough and the construction sturdy enough, so that his "pumpkin" would be safe while she slept.

This legacy of love and sacrifice, care and consideration are what they are passing down to her.  Yes, there is the crib, which is beautiful and smooth like butter and I might try and drag out of the house, were the house on fire.  But that's not the best gift they've given.  They have loved me with a crazy big love all the days of my life, and they've loved Handsome ever since they found out that I loved him, too.  And now, they love our girl in ways that are huge and small, extravagant and humbling.

So although I'm left alone after this awesome-but-short weekend, I'm not alone.  I'm loved so very very much, and my heart is so very very full, that there's no room for "alone".  Thank you, G&G, for all of the ways you love.

<3 M.