Thursday, August 8, 2013

Busy Summer, Now Back To School

My terrific grandkid is starting 8th grade very happily, and excited to be back in school.  The first day was great, so I heard.  I am so glad! 

The three times she was with her mom for two week increments, and thus able to visit with us too, were incredibly fun and exciting for us, her Papa and Grammaw.  We made sure to have her favorite meals at home here, eat out at her favorite restaurants, shop in her favorite stores, and let her have down time to watch her favorite tv shows.

Early in the summer she got enrolled in an orchestra camp, and we bought her a double bass to use.  She did so well, she was awarded a scholarship for the orchestra camp in 2014!  She loves playing the bass.  We found a teacher who is happy to provide lessons whenever she can be here, and now the kid is playing Bach. 

She also worked with her Papa planting a vegetable garden and he harvested some sweet 'taters just a couple days ago.  We had lots of cukes and squash.  There were hardly any tomatoes, it's been so rainy there wasn't enough sunshine.

There has been a problem with one of her teeth for a long time, where an infection was resistant and she needed surgery.  We were able to get that done and taken care of, and the antibiotics were over with by the time she had to go back to her father's place.  It was such a relief to get it all behind us. 

She had a good time shopping for school supplies and a few clothes.  We always end up in the bookstore and the comic book store while she's here. 

She is happy to help her mom with all kinds of chores and her grammaw too.  We make sure she has lots of rewards! so she's always motivated.  Not only do we love her like crazy but our funny cat won't leave her side.

I can't think of anything more wonderful than being the grammaw of this extraordinary, lovely and intelligent person as she grows into a fabulous individual.  I only hope she will cherish her own self the way we cherish her.

2 comments:

Heidi Rettig said...

I have spent much of the summer sorting through my mother's papers, which included many of my grandma's things. I can't tell you how much that made me realize that after twenty years I still miss my grandma! She always gave me so much time and love. Even though she was a busy farm woman, she always made time to play Uno with me. We played at the kitchen table for mini-donuts instead of money and looking back...I see I always won. I am a step-grandmother of five but I love them like my own. I recognize all that joy I read in your posts about your granddaughter. It is so wonderful to see them grow and accomplish things that you and I would never have imagined for ourselves. When I divorced I had to move far away from them and it absolutely broke my heart. I visited this summer and got to sit and watch my grandson's VBS finale and he put his arm around me and trust me that was time off this earth. Bass player with a scholarship! And loves her Papa and Grammaw so much I bet! xx Heidi

Sterling River said...

Heidi, what wonderful breeze brought me to see your comment today, exactly at the time it helped me the most. You are a precious kid!!!