Watching The Grandkids

One of the joys of being a grandparent is that you often have the opportunity to repeat some of the same activities that you shared with your children, but with much less stress and without being crammed for time. We've attended baseball games, soccer matches, rugby matches, band concerts and performances, choral concerts, orchestra concerts, youth competitions, graduations, exhibits, and even parents' nights. And we don't even have to be a band parent, a soccer mom or a fund raiser to participate. Recently we attended our granddaughter's kindergarten graduation – wow, we didn't even go to kindergarten when we were kids. I wonder how we made it through life. We enjoyed seeing her in her pretty dress with her graduation cap walk across the stage to receive her diploma. We were proud that she was so well behaved. And we also had the opportunity to watch other kids act like clowns in front of their embarrassed parents. It made me realize how glad I am to be retired and not to be around to teach the Class of 2022! We didn't get to our oldest grandson's high school graduation because with a class of about 580, tickets were limited. Maybe schools are just too big. But we did get to his high school band concert and I was really impressed with the quality of the concert. We also had a chance to watch their award winning band's marching show last Fall. Excellent! Kindergarten and eighth grade soccer games were entertaining this Spring. Our eighth grader even took and passed a course to become a hockey official – there is good money to be made doing this if you can take the grief from coaches and parents. In April we traveled to Altoona to watch two of ours compete in the regional Word of Life Teens competition. Our grandson was involved with a puppet group and played in the praise band. Our granddaughter was also in a puppet group, sang in the praise band and read a poem and a story that she had written. Both of them qualified for the national competition in all of their events. We are proud. We also enjoyed a sixth grade band concert in one of the best school district music programs in the area. We especially enjoyed watching a particular French horn player. Unfortunately, we also had to sit through three other instrumental groups' performances until the band played. I've come to the conclusion that there is a direct correlation between how much you enjoy an elementary concert and who you know in the performing group. I imagined the parents of those in the first three groups thought it was great, but I didn't. We are blessed that all seven of our grandchildren are in three area public school districts so we have an opportunity to watch them and support them in these experiences. And while one of ours is now moving on to college, the other six will all be in school next year. So, hopefully the experiences will continue. And we will enjoy them all! But the greatest recent experience was watching one of our grandsons follow the Lord in baptism. The other events are special, but watching them grow spiritually is a thrill. And for that we thank the Lord.