Nakita Grinie: Nothing quite like family

Saturday, June 3, 2017

Nothing quite like family

Sometimes I like to daydream about having all of my family members in the same state...or even the same time zone.

I mentioned before that my parents just moved to Colorado after being in Missouri for 27 years. I haven't lived in the same states as my parents in six years, and it's still hard sometimes to have my mom (especially) so far away from me during these hectic little kid years. Thank goodness for modern technology: emails, texts and FaceTime all save us and allow my kids to really know their GoGo and PoPo quite well. I like to joke with my parents that they never really came to Wisconsin to visit us more than once a year BEFORE kids and now we get to see them 'all the time'. My mom managed to come every month after both Truman and Cecelia were born, for about the first 4-5 months of their lives. Pretty freaking fantastic, but it makes saying goodbye even harder.

Now, Memaw and Pepaw are in their early 80s and live in southwestern Missouri. We get to see them about four times a year or so and it's the same thing with them as it is with my parents: technology keeps us connected. Memaw is the most internet-savvy octogenarian that you will ever meet. She keeps my inbox full of sweet typed letters to me and to the kids. She is my biggest blog and Flickr fan and somehow notices when I have a new post up even before I email her about it---and that's without Google Reader/Feedly/Bloglovin! ;)

I miss these matriarchs in my life, but I suppose we are all pretty used to being geographically distant while remaining 'close' emotionally (and technologically) ;)

I started pumping them up for Cecelia's birthday party at the first of this year. When they bought their tickets for the visit I was excited to see them and knew that their Wednesday night through Sunday afternoon trip would feel too short, as always. But no matter how long they say, it's always too short.

Then Lori wanted to take off the Friday following Cecelia's party. I was trying to crunch my work schedule to take off as well, and joked to Nate that, 'wouldn't it be nice if I could convince my mom to extend her trip to WI by a week, so SHE could watch the kids that day?' He told me I should just ask her, and the more I thought about it, the more I felt like this was a fantastic idea;)

So I emailed her and tried not to be too pushy about it. But I did throw out phrases like, 'Life is short....the kids are growing up fast....you could never wear out your welcome...the trips always feel too short.' I'm bad, I know. But my mom doesn't have a job in CO just yet, so for once she wouldn't have to worry about PTO or getting back home to work.

She thought about my proposition (for a few hours at least) and made sure that my dad would survive without her for an extra six days. And then she extended her trip to make our visit ten whole days long instead of just four. Memaw had to keep her return flight the same because she is traveling to Texas later in the week (I'm telling you, she and Pepaw are insane with their energy!). But mom? She is all ours this entire week.

I've been working my usual schedule and came up with the plan to send Cecelia only to Lori's on Monday, letting mom have 1:1 time with Truman that day. Then send Truman only on Wednesday, to allow for some GoGo and CC time alone. On Friday she will have them both when Lori is off, and of course on Tues/Thurs we will all be home together. Pretty phenomenal week, if you ask me.

The extra set of hands to help out when I'm making dinner is unbeatable. Nate's longer nights on Mon, Tues, and Wed have been no big deal because I still have a teammate handling these kids. I have changed my daughter's diaper maybe twice since mom has been here. Truman is living his dream of making the messiest, most Pinterest-worthy art projects imaginable. I've been able to run alone a few times and mom has been able to play with her grandkids in real life, not just through an iPhone. It sure is going to be even harder to say goodbye when she does leave on Saturday, but it's so worth it.

I have been trying to use my nice camera during family visits lately, because it's pretty special to have four generations of girls in our family. A few of my faves from last week when Memaw was still here.
2013-06-03_0001