A great-grandma's heartsong 🧸 Porch #183

All the emotions. Awestruck joy, the melancholy of yearning, deepest anticipation, overwhelming gratitude. And a hand-knit family keepsake to pass along.

well this is a rather emotional one to get through. but I know you understand. xo

Dearest Friends,

Smittened I am. Absolutely smitten.

Last Saturday morning at 9:06, I became a great-grandmother.

Please tell me I’m way too young to wear this brand new title.

Seeing this unfamiliar reality in black and white takes my breath away. It was an intense weekend, waiting for news, praying from a place of peaceful anticipation, finally getting the big announcement of his arrival. Scrolling through pictures of our new little guy, his awe-struck parents, and his already doting grandparents. Phone constantly at the ready, craving any snippets of updates I could get my hands on. Pouring over every detail, catching a glimpse of his deep blue eyes, wishing we were there with them.

And sitting with the joy of this little one’s arrival, yet kind of taken back by the distinct melancholy at being so very far away. Yearning to hold and cuddle him, to wrap my arms around my granddaughter, all while accepting the fact that they are there and we are here, more than 600 miles away.

The surprise of meeting him on WhatsApp. ‘I’m your great-ma!,’ I croon. Marveling over the radiant ease and beauty of his mama, and catching a glimpse of his daddy’s obvious adoration of both mother and child.

And oh those little hands. Thank You, Jesus.

And it came yet again when our few minutes of screen time ended. That endless, unfathomable tug of longing, the feeling of missing out that’s defined decades of living apart from the beloved girls we raised and their families. In listening to many grandparents who love from afar over the years, I know for sure that this is a universal craving, an inner truth that most all of us wrestle with in some shape or form.

We long to be near the generations that we’ve birthed.

In a few weeks, I’ll get to meet our precious little one. I’ll try to be patient in getting my turn to quietly cuddle with him. Bond with this beautiful boy-child, let him grab my finger, look into those bright blue eyes, whisper again and again, ‘Great-Ma loves you,’ say a prayer or two over him.

At his baby shower last month, I passed on this tiny hand-knit hat, the last of many my mother knit for children around the world. It touched my heart that her great-great-grandson’s mama brought it to the hospital with her last week. It meant all the world to me that my own mother is already linked to a little one she will never meet on this side of heaven.

The bit-too-small hat along with a little note will be passed to her next great-great-grandbaby and so on, a sweet, tangible legacy that reminds us how she loved her people oh so well.

All I can say is thank You, Jesus. And blessed be those ties that bind us close to each other and to Your loving heart.

Linda 💙

* be sure to click that 🤍 below to show our little guy and his awesome parents some love