Today we are welcoming our new grand-daughter Colette! Born this morning — oh precious bundle of loveliness!
Already — before she was born, I mean — she has inspired a flock of sweet hand-knits. More are on the way (and on the needles!). And, like all of my grandchildren, she is sure to inspire me to knit many more.
Grandchildren are a fabulous reason to knit. And a fabulous reason not to knit. Notice the photo of me holding sweet baby Colette — what you cannot see is the bag of knitting abandoned to a corner of the room. Me holding the baby, not the needles. Because while knitting things for the grandchildren is marvelous, it cannot compete with doing things with the grandchildren. Snuggling, playing, reading, dancing…even changing their clothes, fixing their snacks, giving them baths, helping them pick up toys or fold towels or water plants.
People matter more than knitting — and nobody brings that truth home better than grandchildren. Because you really cannot take them for granted — like you might (regrettably) your own children or your parents or husband. The day-by-day, side-by-side relationships we have with our immediate family require a certain amount of taking-for-grantedness that gives us security. But our relationships just beyond that first circle have an ebb and flow that requires us to be absolutely intentional. We have to choose to be together because we are not thrown together so much. Those experiences that are a parent’s responsibility are a grandparent’s privilege.
So, Colette, welcome! You will cause me to do both more and less knitting 🙂
I love being your Yzma already!