Homecoming Milestone

My oldest granddaughter, Hannah, just attended her junior high homecoming dance. So, I decided that I wanted to go to her house and watch the preparations for this milestone moment. A milestone moment for a grandmother who can’t believe that my granddaughter is old enough to be in junior high school, and even old enough to go to her fist homecoming dance. Maybe being a grandmother, I have learned to make time to enjoy the present and to treasure the moments.

When I walked into my granddaughter’s bedroom, the room was packed with other people, and I made my way to an empty space on her bed. Two of my daughters were there, along with Hannah’s younger sister and her mother, and a few of Hannah’s friends. With all those women in the room, it was like being in a college dorm room. There were a lot of women talking and offering advice and admiring my youngest daughter’s handiwork, as she worked on Hannah’s hair. As time went on, people would come and new people would show up.

My daughter curled and fixed Hannah’s hair and then they went into the bathroom to apply her make up. When they were finished and Hannah had her dress and shoes on…she looked amazing. The dress she wore was a short satin purple one with an oversized jeweled pin on the waist. Hannah is a tall girl, but with her heels on, she towered over everyone and she looked breathtakingly beautiful.

All I could think of was…when did my oldest granddaughter grow up? Where did the 15 years go? I remember the night she was born, when we went to the hospital and saw her and now…she is on her way to homecoming.

Time goes on. It never stops or slows down. I have a ton of memories of Hannah…Hannah the little blond haired, blue eyed baby sitting in a baby seat, playing games with her on the family room rug as a child, the granddaughter that I babysat for the past 13 years. When she was little we watched the Lion King over and over and over, along with every other Disney movie that she loved. One of her first stuffed animals that I bought her was the lion, Nala, from the Lion King. Hannah is now in junior high, and continues drawing, and is an artist and a darn good one, a gregarious person with tons of friend, a smart student, a basketball player and the nicest, most considerate kid that I ever have had the pleasure to know. She now babysits, and works as a dishwasher for my one daughter’s catering business and also works at a pizza shop.

Before I know it, she will be finished with high school, and off to college and then who knows, maybe get married and have babies, hopefully, not for a very long time.

Still, we can talk to one another. Hannah loves coming over to my house and eating my food. She still hugs and kisses me and makes me feel like the best grandmother in the world. I hope that this will last forever. Hannah was the first grandchild and for five years the only one. But my bond with Hannah has been a long special one and it always will be.