Celebrating Life...: Letter about Granny at the end of an era of mornings…

My boys,

You have four fantastic grandparents. Each one of them brings unique and fabulous things into your lives – gifts of wisdom, love, laughter, learning, patience, music, adventure and prayer. Dad and I are so grateful that you guys are so very blessed, not just to have grandparents, but to have amazing grandparents.

But today I wanted to write to you about Granny, in particular, because when you’re older you won’t be able to remember all that she did for you and meant to you in these, your years of being tiny. I want to record it all for you, so that in time you’ll be able to look within your own characters and recognise, and be grateful for, the moulding, teaching, guiding influence that she has had on you both. Also, next week, Scotty, you will start at Heavenly Babies, which means we’re at the end of an era of Granny looking after you in the mornings. I don’t think we even fully understand the privilege of having had her to look after you both, as babies.

Cam, when you were born (early!), Granny and Nanna were the first people that Dad and I called, and they were just exuberant… Six weeks later, when our nagging suspicions were confirmed and we found out that you had congenital cataracts and micropthalmia, Gran arrived with Dad, at the doctor’s. Dad’s car happened to be in for a service that day, so she drove to his work to fetch him and bring him to the ophthalmologist where I was waiting, terrified, with you. Gran waited while we got the full extent of the news, and then she held me while I cried. She knew that none of our lives would ever be the same, but she just kept saying, ‘It’s going to be ok. It’s going to be ok.’ You, my brave shining star, are living proof that it’s not just going to be ok; it’s going to be awesome.

I was on maternity leave for five months. I don’t remember much of that time at all, except for a lot of doctors’ waiting rooms, EUAs, people praying for us, and time spent at Granny’s house. I remember that Gran was a refuge for me, a safe place where I could deal with my fears. One of the clearest memories I have of those five months was watching August Rush with Granny one morning – one of her many attempts to cheer me up. I remember how much it moved me, and how much comfort I took from it, because I sensed that you – like August – had unusual potential that was just waiting to be unleashed on a watching world.

When I went back to work, Granny would fetch you from Maria in the mornings and look after you until I was done at school. She helped to fetch and carry you for the few weeks that you were at the Baby Therapy Centre, and then it was she who discovered Heavenly Babies and Tots, and came with me to check it out.

She accompanied us to countless physio and occupational therapy sessions, taking notes and videos and asking all the right questions when I couldn’t think. She joined blind and VI parent networks and chat rooms and surfed the net tirelessly to make sure that we were equipped with every available resource to help you to cope with your visual impairment. In the first two years of your life, Gran did most of the visual therapy exercises that Dad designed, because I was often too tired, or too numb. She has come up with so many ideas and suggestions of ways to help you to maximise your vision. She has helped you not just to cope physically, emotionally and socially, but to shine. And she has believed in you, unwaveringly, and with heartfelt enthusiasm.

Scott, when I went into labour with you (also early!), we dropped Cam off at Granny’s house. (She did a lot, Cam, to make you feel more secure about getting a little brother. You were mad at me for about a month!) Again, she was the first to come and see you, Scotty, when you had been born later that day, and she was as chuffed as if you had been her first grandchild, not her eighth! You were the littlest of the clan, Scott Gideon, but our mighty hero nonetheless. I think Granny had updated her facebook status with the news of your birth before I had updated mine! She has been a grandmother for thirteen years, and yet still she has looked after you, too, in the mornings, tirelessly, committedly, and with deep affection.

Granny is always organising adventures for you guys. She has taken you to parks, petting zoos, pet shops, playgrounds, dairy farms, museums… you name it. Anything, anywhere, that’s fun for kids to do, Granny has discovered it and made a plan to get you there. She went along to Heavenly Tots the other day, Cam, when your class was visited by the World of Reptiles, to film the snakes and things so that you could see them more clearly, on your screen.

She has come up with such clever, practical ideas for presents for you guys (like your little TV, Cam, and your hiking stick, and just this week, a clock that announces the time when you push a button. And boy, do you push that button… a lot… J). She and Grampa have been incredibly generous. Cammy, they started your ‘Cam Account’, to ensure that you would be able to get whatever treatment, therapy and technological aid you would need. And I think she has spent a fortune on Woolies doughnuts, over the years, because she knows they are your favourite.

Granny is really good at teaching you practical skills – like baking, and recognising different coins, and finding interesting shells on the beach. And there aren’t many grandmothers who would put on a wetsuit and spend whole afternoons in the swimming pool with squirming, splashing grandkids and pool noodles and Spiderman tubes. She also makes sure that you are growing up brave, and helps you to dry your tears and get on with it. Her home, like Nanna’s, is a home away from home for you boys.

God has used your Granny immeasurably, and I wanted to remind you of all this, to honour her and to thank God for the blessing she is in our lives.

All my love,

Mom