A New Man in my Life...memories and manners...

My little prince...

I have had an extraordinary experience in the last few days...I have become a grandmother for the first time.

While some of my friends had tried to explain the emotion I would most likely encounter when I first saw the tiny baby with my daughter, nothing I had been told prepared me for the overwhelming emotion of maternal protection I felt for my daughter and her four hour old son. It was a powerful memory of maternal intensity I had not felt since my daughter was born almost 32 years ago and then my son a few years later.

My mind has wandered over the last few days to the morning when my mother first visited me and my new daughter.I remember clearly her emotion...a mixture of happiness and concern about my labour, my daughter's health, and inclusion as a woman in the maternal experience. We shared tears of joy when she first held her granddaughter. I clearly remember her looking into the baby's eyes,and then up at me, with an expression of wonderment...I am sure the same look I presented to my daughter when she first laid my grandson in my arms.

A blue posie for the new mother...

Memory is so powerful. In the quiet nights I have lost myself in the memories which have flooded back about the few days I had in hospital after the birth...the awkward moments when breastfeeding seemed like an impossible task, the fear of dropping her during her first bath, and the consternation and uncertainty of confidence when the day came to take her home.

Today my daughter and her husband will take their son home. I am staying nearby for a month to assist when required... mindful that any advice or suggestions I may feel the need to give must be cautiously offered.

A new realm of "grandparent" manners is opening before me...I look forward to sharing my observations!

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MANNERS AND OTHER MATTERS

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