Sometimes I think being a grandma is so much more rewarding than being a mom. After all, you get all the goodness without all the bad. You can love this little person with no worries or fears. Its the purest and most fulfilling joy I’ve ever experienced. It’s a little reminder of what once was and excitement of what could be.
Sometimes when I look at my grandkids, watching them enjoy life. Experiencing all the wonders of being a child, I can’t help but think what happened to this in us as we get older?
When did ignorance FOOL the innocence?
We seize the more prominent, more complicated aspects of life and forget to hold onto simple things.
Instead of toes and skinned knees in fresh-cut grass were fighting wars in video games in dark isolating rooms.
Willingly we replace acceptability for entitlement.
Rather than visit a family member, we send an impersonal text to substitute for our company.
Freely we grab an iPad instead of a conversation.
Then when things don’t turn out the way we intend, we deliberately avoid rather than engage.
I want to get the simplicity back. I want integrity and honesty to prevail over deception and iniquity.
In my family, as addiction has ravaged our homes, we have managed to maintain what childhood looked like for us. We gravitate to each other for reassurance; not all is lost and hold onto our newest generation as to shield them from the horrid parts of the world we’ve seen.
In one way, we have now chosen to be ignorant to protect innocence. To keep them resistant to what we’ve seen and let them just be kids. Indifferent to the chaos around them, we play with bubbles and pick flowers. We often hug and laugh with ease.
We escape in a story or hold close our favorite songs. We scream with enthusiasm slipping down the slide and shriek with joy when we figure out how to swing.
Touch the stars and moon at night while we huddle to a roaring bonfire.

This is the childhood my grandbabies are having not much different than what mine had with one exception. We now also know the evil in this world. We know how quickly it can take over. Hopefully, we can let them fall with little fear they won’t stand back up. So until then, we hold them tight, but know to hang on, we may one day have to let go.