whirlwind of grandparental love!

Autumn is a time when I feel my grandparents who are gone.  The three that have passed left in the fall, and the richness and impermanence of the season have always fit the bittersweet feelings of this kind of loss. 

That was a very melancholy way to begin a post about grandparents, but it all fit, in the way that things do!  This month, Dan's play went up, and all of our parents came to support him in his success.  This has actually never happened in the 19 years we've lived together.  It was an overlapping whirlwind of grandparental love...

Nim with Gramma D

sharing seeds from our garden with Grampa Greg

opening night shenanigans

striking a pose with Gramma Liz

(Did you need me to explain the wig? Let's see...an incredibly generous and thoughtful fairy godmother in Seattle noticed Eliza looking at the wigs at Archie Macphee's and guess what arrived in the mail just as the grandparents arrived?  It was on her head for four days solid...)

After a day of boardgames, chicken soup and four grandparents catching up, Dan's folks left and we took my dad and his wife uptown for supper before they went to see the play.  It was our local Nuit Blanche and we got to show them some of the Honey for the Heart puppets in action. They really are superbly magnificent to happen upon.

Eliza's art class took part in the celebrations, so we tracked down her portrait which was hanging in a coffeeshop.  The assignment was to create a realistic half and a symbollic half. My photo of it is not great, but I could look at it for a long time, deciphering the symbols.  (Oh right, I'm her mom...)

The idea of Nuit Blanche as I understand it is Art! Everywhere! So there was music, spoken word, art exhibits, theater, and dance.  We stumbled upon the OU Jitterbug club teaching a swing lesson and played there for a while before sending them all to the theater and heading home.

This is what Ani wears these days.  All stripes, all the time.
In fact, not just any stripes, but these striped pajamas.
I want to do that.

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On the heels of these visits - one day later - my mama arrived!! I'm telling you, this convergence has never happened before. It was awesome. It was grandchild heaven.  My mom came to hang out with Ani while Eliza and I travelled to North Carolina for the Southeast Women's Herbal Conference, but that is another post...

The Mormor Fairy, sneaking in the back door

(Ani left my mom a note on her bed one night, on top of the pair of wings, that read "Please put me on".  When mom came down for breakfast the next morning, guess what she had on...I love that woman, and she obviously loves that kid.)

I have only a few photos of their time together, since I was not here!

This is the closest we've lived to our parents since we moved west in 1995.  I am so grateful for the day's drive, but how I wish it were even shorter. We soaked them up while they were here and I'm already looking forward to the next chance to be together...It was such a gift to Ani to have that one-on-one time with Mormor; she just blossoms under that kind of attention and companionship, and I love seeing my kids find their own relationships with my parents.