Practicing Being A Grandfather

“The decision to have a child is momentous.
It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.”

This past week I have lived the truth of that saying all over again. Not just as a parent (for which still holds true!), but this time as a grandparent as I have held and watched and sung to and rocked and walked with our two month old grandson. I have watched him as he has stared at the shadows on the ceiling and wondered what sense his little mind was making of it all. Maybe instead of wondering what he was thinking, I realized maybe I should stare at them as well and just enjoy their dance across the ceiling without trying to make more of it than that.

Mostly I will watch from afar as this little man grows up.
He will roll over and crawl and begin to talk without me being there.
But, he will not do any of those things without my love and prayers stretching from here to there and doing their best to wrap themselves around his life. I am already planning for adventures we will have together someday. Walks in the wood. Campfires. Playing catch. Reading books. But, as much as he might learn from any of those moments, I think I will end up learning more from him. Like how to watch the shadows dance across the ceiling and how to enjoy how our faces look in the firelight.