Today is Sunday June 29.  There are only 157 days until Thanksgiving so start stocking up on the supplies you will need for dinner that day because they will be nowhere to be found as we get closer to the holiday.  Let’s take a moment to remember the birthdays of George Washington Goethals, Nelson Eddy and Slim Pickens.  On this day in 1776 the Virginia state constitution was adopted and Patrick Henry was made governor, in 1863 the very first First National Bank opened in Davenport, Iowa and in 1956 the Federal Interstate Highway System act was signed.  If you have a goofy holiday that you wanted to start celebrating, today would be the day to pick for it.  June 29 is available since there are no other holidays being celebrated.

Two significant events occurred this past week.  The first was the last day of school, ever, for the lovely Elaine.  She started school as a Kindergarten student 58 years ago and between attending school and then teaching, she has been in school every year since.  She has decided to retire and move on to a more relaxing pace, drinking a second cup of coffee and reading the whole newspaper.  Now we have the freedom to come and go as we please, travel to our favorite locales during the week to avoid paying weekend rates and just enjoying ourselves.  Not that we will, mind you, but we can if we want to.  Part of the problem with this plan is that she is not yet convinced that we will be able to survive on her pension and the various amounts I have coming in.  While she will not admit it, she is envisioning our sleeping in a cardboard box under a highway overpass unless we are very strict with our funds.

I suppose that we could end up in bad shape if we start living a lavish lifestyle, but we have never lived that type of life before so I don’t know why she thinks we will start now, just because she is retired.  The lovely Elaine tends to be a “worst case scenario” type of person.  If a situation presents itself, she will assume that the worst will happen.  If the weather report calls for rain and strong winds, she will have us ending up on the yellow brick road, searching for Oz.  If nothing else, it makes for some interesting conversations.  All that aside, I am looking forward to our time together.  It will be nice to not have her obsessing about school come the middle of August.

The second significant event we had was the celebration of my grandson Nick’s 13^th birthday.  I remember the day he was born (which, considering my memory lately, is quite a feat).  One of the events that made that day memorable was the fire alarm going off in the hospital while my daughter-in-law was in the delivery room.  We – the two grandmothers and I – were waiting in a place where they said we would be able to see the new mother and child when they came out of the delivery room.  When the alarm went off, the doors around us automatically closed and locked.  We looked out the window and saw fire trucks and police cars several floors down on the street.  We thought that this might not be good, but since we didn’t see flames or smell smoke, I at least, remained optimistic.

After waiting for some time, the doors unlocked and things went back to normal.  We continued to wait, but did not see them coming out of the delivery room.  The grandmothers cornered a nurse and asked what was going on.  Apparently, because of the fire alarm, they were taken out a different way.  We were told that they were on a different floor, in recovery, and we could go see them there.  We went, but were unable to locate the area where they were supposed to be.  At this point, the two grandmothers became feral.  They stalked the hallways looking for any sign or person that would tell them where mother and child were.  Finally a young man wearing scrubs came down the hall.  The two female wolverines cornered him and, almost snarling, asked where we could find Marianne and Nicholas.  Quivering in fear for his life, he directed us to the nursery.  We charged off for the nursery and he went to find the nearest restroom.

We found it and, one by one, we were allowed to go in and see our new, and our first, grandchild.  Being the wise person that I am and having recently seen them in action, I let the grandmothers go first.  They went in and then went to locate the new mother.  I then went in and had some quiet time with him myself.  Until you experience something like that, you have no idea the thrill and excitement that comes with being a grandparent.  From that day on you find that things are different.

You realize that you can be as goofy as you want because now you are a grandparent.  You don’t have to be strict with them and make sure they do all the right things.  That is what the parents are for.  The job of the grandparent is to have fun with your grandchild, pass him/her back to the parents when the child fills its diapers, take the child places and let it have fun, crank the kid up with candy, cake and ice cream and then send him/her home with the parents while you flop on the couch and say, “Whew!  That was tiring, but it was fun!”  At least that was always my thought.  The lovely Elaine felt that every once in a while we should enforce rules and set good examples.  I have never been completely sold on that, but I try.

Now Nick is 13 and on his birthday we sat and did the typical grandparent thing.  We remembered all the things he did growing up, we talked about them, causing him to leave the room while his younger brother said, “He really did that” incredulously and then we wondered “where the time went.”  I love both my grandsons dearly and enjoy spending time with them.  They are smart, funny, clever, talented and never fail to give me a smile that lasts for several days afterward.

So, we have moved into new phases.  Elaine has retired and can now, hopefully, relax a little and enjoy life.  Much scarier is the fact that we now have a teenager to deal with.  I think the worst was when I reminded my son and daughter-in-law that in just a few years, he will be driving.

Our fact this week tells us that alligators cannot move backwards.  So if one is chasing you, stop suddenly, let him run by and then just stay behind him.