Once, there was a way to get back homeward

Once, there was a way to get back home

Sleep, pretty darling, do not cry

And I will sing a lullaby

Golden slumbers fill your eyes

Smiles awake you when you rise

Sleep pretty darling, do not cry

And I will sing a lullaby

Golden Slumbers

Lennon-McCartney

1969

Last week, Jennifer and I became grandparents for the first time. We have never seen two such perfect babies. The babies are currently spending time in Golden Slumbers. The parents…not so much.

Back when I was a child, things were simpler. They were also more dangerous. My grandparents were called Grandmother and Granddaddy. I never heard Gigi, Mimi, Pawpaw, Memaw, or any of the other 4.5 billion ways to say "parent of your parents." 

Things were also more dangerous. People did not wear seatbelts in cars, which were made of steel and much larger and less forgiving. My seat in the car was sitting on my mom's lap in the front seat as my father drove with one hand, smoking a cigarette, the window slightly cracked. There may or may not have been a cocktail in the other hand. Occasionally, an abrupt left turn required my mom to pull me out of the space between the seat and the passenger door. Shulls Mill Rd tossed me around like a rag doll. There were no such things as airbags either, which may be a good thing, as they probably would have been full of asbestos.

We didn’t have a pack and play, interchangeable car seats, padded changing tables, electric baby bouncers, bottle warmers, wipe warmers, or wipes for that matter. Maybe they existed, but not in my house. The baby industry was in its infancy, pardon the pun.

But we had Grandparents, and they were glorious. It was a vacation for me, and apparently for my parents too. There were trips to Tweetsie, playing in the Wautaga River, building butterfly castles, crabbing on Sullivan’s Island, grits on a Coleman stove in a boat on the intracoastal, walks on the beach, learning how to write my name, swimming lessons, watching the Braves win or lose late on WTBS  and a thousand other memories that I still carry with me. There was safety, joy, happiness and love. Smiles awoke me when I rose.  Alice and Lillie, we pledge to always have these for you, too.

I am faced with the task of choosing the name for them to call me. I have had a tough time doing so, as I didn't think I would ever have this opportunity, and I don’t feel like a grandparent. Honestly, I don’t feel 60, which is what I turned a few months back. The mirror begs to differ. I have been asked over and over what that name will be, and I think I have finally chosen one.

Alice and Lillie, Granddaddy loves you so very much.