I was on a bit of a hiatus early last week. Helping my son and daughter in-law by watching their son and dogs while we were being blessed with a new granddaughter. They returned home on a bright sunny day and to everyone’s waiting arms.

I hope the homecoming was as special for them. It felt special to me. Watching their son interact and talk to his new sister. To see her not even startled by the bark of the dogs.

My better half remembered to bring decorations, so I got up early with some crea paper and assorted streamers, my roll of tape and a chair. I’m not sure how many more years I’m going to be climbing around my home and others preparing for celebrations, but this one was without injury.

Life is great with an infant in your arms, they melt your heart. It’s funny though, after a little while I noticed an old pain when I noticed myself in hunched over position holding her that was creating it.

Then again it could have been that almost 3 year old toddler running full speed at me and launching into my arms for 4 days. He didn’t catch me off guard once this week. The dogs ran a couple of crossing routes that NFL receivers would have been proud of and picked me off coming down the stairs, without a flag being thrown. Good thing the wall saved me from falling out of bounds.

Sorry about the football references, it is draft time.

But back to the important stuff. The name my son and daughter in-law chose is very dear to me because her middle name is my father’s first name. Not that all my grandchildren haven’t brought a tear to my eye, but this one was made very special. It’s been almost 6 decades since my father’s passing. He saw so little of his own family and never my own, or my grandchildren. I’m looking at the picture of him on my desk with a big smile. I’m smiling for him today.