Grandparents through a Grandchild's Eyes

by guest writer, Rachel Carroll

 

My experience with my own grandparents is not the ideal scene, with a grandmother and grandfather sitting on rocking chairs on their front porch, while my siblings and I sit on their laps. My grandfather on my mom's side died before I was born, and my grandparents on my dad's side are no longer married.
 

Please don't get me wrong. I love my grandparents with all my heart. But the question "What is a grandparent?" is one that fascinates me because a child's relation with their grandparents doesn't have to be a page out of a storybook to have a happily ever after.
 

So, what is a grandparent, anyway? Well, technically speaking, they are the parents of our parents. But they are so much more.
 

Grandparents know that raising us isn't a responsibility that falls on them. That's why they know it's okay to spoil us a little bit every now and then.

Most grandparents are rarely busy; they seldom utter the phrase "Maybe later." They live right now, in the moment, and do their best to take us along on the ride.
 

They are our window to a past generation, even more so than our parents. When they look at us, we give them a taste of the future.
 

Grandparents have already raised their own children; our parents. Everything that they never did or never could do for our parents, they try to do for us. Our parents were, in a way, our grandparents' guinea pigs.
 

As much as we hate to admit it, our parents are wiser than we are, and our grandparents are even wiser than they are.

 

Now that our grandparents children are no longer children, they seize the opportunity to pass their wisdom to us. Maybe it can be as simple as a grandfather taking his grandson fishing, or a grandmother baking cookies with her granddaughter. Maybe we won't be able to truly appreciate these moments until we share them with our own grandchildren.
 

Most of all, grandparents love us. And isn't that all that matters?
 
Rachel Carroll is a member of our graduating class of 2010. She has received numerous awards for her writing. She has been recognized by the NC Poetry Society for the past two years as the recipient of the Joan Scott Memorial Award for nature poetry. During the 2009-2010 school year, Rachel was selected as one of three North Carolina students for the Gilbert-Chappell Distinguished Poet Series. She worked with an outstanding NC Distinguished Poet and had the opportunity to present her work in a variety of venues. Congratulations Rachel!

 

For the earth,