Happy Valentine's Day

I absolutely love you

My grandchildren and I enjoy a rigorous texting life, and last week, right at bedtime, my 10-year old grandson sent me the above text.

He also sent me a text once that said he loved me with his “whole heart.”

I once worried I wouldn’t be a good grandmother, which even as a kid struck me as a far more important role than, say, wife or mother. I mean, I tried to be good at both of those roles, but let’s be honest. I and the people around me enjoyed mostly mixed results from my efforts.

But grandmother? That is a job with some meat on it. I am the clean up-hitters. I give rides and buy books and make leisurely trips to Staples because they have the coolest stuff. At my house, the cookies are always still warm from the oven and I think your finger paintings are Picassos. I arrive early to concerts so I can get a good seat to videotape, and I hound you to pose for yet another photo because — and I don’t say this because it’s kind of a downer — I’ve done all this before and I know how fast it goes. One day, they’re holding your hand on the way to kindergarten, and the following Tuesday, they’re pulling away in the car to go pick up their prom date.

From 2015; they were 4.

Understand that I am not a push-over grandmother. If you chew with your mouth open, I am on you like a duck on a June bug. If you put your hands on a sibling, I am there, breaking things up (which is super-hypocritical of me because my brothers and I used to pound one another, cheerfully). If you misbehave, I will, as my own grandmother used to do, yank a knot in your tail.

But my God. I absolutely love you.