A Visit from the Grands

Here are three ways you can tell our Grands have been visiting:

There is artwork on the wall,

The car vent is now a piggybank,

                                                        and finally...

                                                                   Cheerios in the vacuum.

Once again I will say it: Being a grandparent is the best job I've ever had.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Dad

At the Masonic Lodge in Middleville, Michigan, there is a "Charles E. Collins, Sr." dining room named in honor of my father, a life-long Mason and a tireless supporter of his Lodge.  He spent many, many nights of his life attending meetings and fund-raising for his favorite organization.

The last handful of years, his lodge fund-raising took the form of selling poker chips at Texas Hold 'em charity tournaments.  This is a Michigan thing and I don't know the ins and outs of it, but I do know that Dad worked until the wee hours of the morning, lately seven days on, seven days off.

When a stroke claimed the lion's share of his vision, he convinced his wife to go with him.  One of the proudest days of his recent years was when his grandson Max became a Mason.  Max, too, would occasionally accompany Dad to work the game room.

This week Dad and his wife Carol had planned a trip to South Carolina to visit my baby brother and me. But "Man makes plans, God changes them" and this time, God called my father home.  After his normal night-shift at the poker room, Dad got to bed about 3:30 am.  During the night, he suffered another stroke and on Labor Day, he slipped peacefully into the next world. 

Dad was a man of action and I am grateful that on the last Saturday night of his life, he was joking around with the guys at the Masonic Texas Hold 'em game.  It was just where he wanted to be.

Way to go Dad, you went out with your boots on. 

I Love You.

Charles Elmer Collins, Sr.
1929 - 2012

The Second Time Around

Love IS lovelier the second time around!

We welcome Baby Grayson Edward Sheena to our family!  Born on July 1st and weighing in at 6 pounds, 8 ounces he is 21 inches long and made his debut at 5:09 a.m.  Trooper that she is, his mother waited until his big brother was fast asleep before she left for the hospital, even though it took her three tries (thanks to fireworks, a squeaky garage door opener and a noisy Grammy.) 

After witnessing the birth, the tired Daddy was able to make it home before his toddler awoke, thus averting the dreaded "Where's my Mommy?" drama.  After a quick breakfast he (and I) were whisked off to the hospital to meet the baby brother. 

Brody kissing Grayson

Times have changed since my children were born and some things are for the better.  Hospital cafeteria food is now edible and, at times, even delicious.  Visiting hours are now from 10am - 10pm and no age restrictions are enforced.  There is no limit to the number of visitors allowed at one time either. 

Remember the postage-stamp sized hospital pictures we were given of our babies?  They were a straight-on face shot of an infant with a puckery face wearing an over sized undershirt, with hair flying every which way.  Those pictures are long-gone! 

They have been replaced by photo shoots which even include wardrobe changes, props and whole-family shots.  The three pictures I've included in this post were my favorites among those included in an entire CD which  was available for purchase before the happy family even left the hospital grounds.  What new parent could resist buying these?

Yes, times have changed, but the feeling that you get when you hold one of your own for the very first time, well, that remains one of the joys of a lifetime.

  

Brody is ONE!!

Time does fly and our beautiful grandson Brody celebrated his first birthday last week.  I have been lucky to spend so much time with him during this year and two weeks ago he came to visit, bringing his mom and lots of baby paraphernalia with him.   What a joy to have him here!  We're all crazy in love with him.

He's got three little teeth now, pulls up on things, stands alone briefly, is clearly thinking about stepping out on his own but for now seems content to crawl like he's in the Army - rapidly and with purpose.  He also has a great personality, smiles a lot and laughs with abandon when he finds something funny which is often. 

His Grampy taught him to crawl up the stairs and as soon as he learned this trick he spent a lot of time going up and being carried down.  They both genuinely seemed to enjoy this activity and neither his mom nor I objected because it kept them busy for rather large chunks of time. 

The next day Grampy had to go to work and Brody started to crawl toward the staircase, stopped and looked to be sure that I was following him then went up one stair to the landing, turned and looked at me again and waited.  I had not started up behind him yet so he was sitting level to my face.  Just for a second, the most impish, mischievous expression crossed his face then he smiled his angelic smile and leaned over to me.

I swear in that moment while waiting for a kiss from my first grandchild, I thought he was absolutely perfect in every way.  Then, he leaned in further and.....

.....bit my cheek. 

That cheek chomping hurt but I couldn't stop myself from laughing even though my daughter scolded me that it was an inappropriate response.  Men!  You can never truly know what they are thinking and that goes for cute little one-year-old men-in-training, too.

Happy Birthday, Brody!