Elite Status

It was on this day, 10 years ago, that my status in the world changed completely and irrevocably.  Although I had known that it would happen for some months, I had no idea how profoundly I would be affected.  You see, on November 13, 2001 little Eric was born and I became a grandmother for the first time.  Grandmother status is not without its drawbacks – the age thing being the prime one -- and I certainly thought of my grandmothers (for whom I was not the status changer) as elderly.  But then again, they were both in their 60’s when I was born.  In addition to my grandmothers as role models, my own mother has been an outstanding grandmother role model.  It was her embracing grandmotherhood that made me aspire to achieve it.  Once I achieved this status, I often imagined how the headlines might read if there were ever anything newsworthy about me.  For example, “Grandmother Completes Half-Marathon,” or “Grandmother Goes to Turkey on Fulbright.”  You see how amazing it sounds when it’s a grandmother?  Grandfatherhood doesn’t have quite the same impact (thus, rarely mentioned in headlines).


But enough about me and more about my amazing grandson, little e, who is talented in somany ways.  Just to mention a few of his many facets: he sings and is now in his 2^nd year in the Atlanta Boy Choir, he plays basketball and is frequently called on to set up a crucial play, he runs in road races, he bikes in a velodrome, and he plays chess.  He has alwayshad a very strong super ego.  I’ll never forget learning that one day Katie picked him up from nursery school, and he was sitting alone while the other children were running around.  When asked why he was alone, little e said that the children were playing Star Wars and Katie had told him not to play Star Wars, and that was why he had to take himself out of the action.  I wish I could say that it is the genes, butit’s definitely the parenting (and maybe a little grandmothering?).

 



So thank you, little e, for my moving me into a new status.   It makes me eligible (eventually) for an even more elite status – great grandmotherhood!