Raising teens again!

Way back when, families of many generations lived together, benefiting from the wisdom of their elders, shared childcare, tasks distributed rather equally depending on the age & experience of the member, and many more aspects of communal living. Two years ago when our two teen granddaughters moved in, we discovered the many perks & blessings associated with this kind of arrangement! The first year was super busy with transporting and arranging many school, sport & social events, but the next year it slowed down as they both got full time jobs.

Now, with one having a car & the other one having other transportation most of the time, my life has settled down a bit, BUT, with the arrival of a baby girl last year, I’m finding myself being reminded of how much I love babies! I get to watch her at least 2 days a week while K works and I can’t get over how awesome it feels to squeeze & kiss & play with that precious little being. What we would have missed if we couldn’t have shared this first part of her life. And it’s great seeing what a great mom our granddaughter is. I always knew that she would be; she’s the oldest girl in her family, just like me.

Recently during the holidays we had a total of 9 here, plus family at special events like cookie baking, pizza night, Eggs Benedict brunch here on Christmas Day and Roast beef dinner that night. I had forgotten how wonderful it was to have many generations in the house! Some Christmas celebrations have been pretty quiet the past 20 years with a mostly empty nest.
Seeing my son in law go outside on the giant snow pile in the middle of our Culdesac with his boys, our two younger granddaughters & neighbors really made me smile. The 18 year old took them out once too.

Sometimes I wish that family members could live in the big empty house in our circle. It would feel like a family compound of sorts. Since that won’t happen, we will continue to love all these special moments when we can. Before we know it, the grandkids will be off on their next adventures and we will once again have an empty nest. We will find rewarding things to do as we have before, but with renewed appreciation for the way things used to be. ❤️