Becoming Grandma Polly

I have beautiful memories of spending time with my maternal grandmother. She taught me to embroider, crochet and sew, we spend many happy hours perfecting my new skills. She was a wonderful gardener and could grow any plant from a clipping, many she would take while walking with me. My fondest memories are having homemade hot cocoa at Grandma’s table while she shared stories about when she was a little girl and all the changes she seen in the world. I spent many nights at Grandma’s house and I can still feel the crisp line dried sheets against my skin when I climbed into bed beside her.

My girls got to know Great Grandma very well and loved her dearly, though she is gone now her legacy lives on, stirred up by the smell of her recipes cooking and thru the sharing of her many stories. I  wanted to share similar things with my grandchildren and longed to be a cool grandma, but when the happy day came that my daughter married her Prince Charming, I was sure the distance between us would make things difficult.

I was worried that we would not have the close relationship I always treasured with my own grandma. My paternal grandmother lived in Colorado while I grew up in southern California, we didn’t see her often and my relationship with her was very formal and distant. I really didn’t want that for my grandchildren, and I began to panic. What was I going to do to ensure my grandchildren enjoyed coming to Grandma’s house?

My daughter married into a wonderful family, sadly, her mother in law passed away very young, so I was going to be the only grandma. I felt that I had to work twice as hard to make things special for my future grandchildren. I was blessed with a bonus granddaughter, Lia who was only 4 ( her new niece). I was so happy that I was going to be a grandma, and I knew instantly she would call me Grandma Polly.

Sweet little Lia, my bonus granddaughter.

When my daughter gave birth to her first child I was elated, another granddaughter, I was so in love when she looked into my eyes I nearly cried. I couldn’t believe how sad I was on the flight home. I had to find a way to make things special, what was I going to do? I started a journal for my sweet Bella, I write her a letter each month to tell her what I am feeling about her, how she is changing, sometimes I tell her about a conversation we had on the phone. I tell her about my hopes and dreams for her, and I tell her stories about me when I was little, one day I will tell her how I met her Grandpa, and about our wedding. I have so many things I want her to know. Now four years later I share recipes for her favorite foods as well. I have a book for each of my darlings and enjoy writing once a month ( my grandson Thomas was born two years later, so now I have 3 little angels).

I began searching the internet for ideas to help me achieve my goal of making Grandma's the destination of choice. I found several sites that mentioned holding a “Camp Grandma”, a weekend or week with the grandkids to do special things and build memories. Wow! I now began to plan my first camp grandma.

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