When I'm 64

I've been thinking about the relationship that my children have with their grandparents. While watching my son play with his great-grandfather (my "nonno"), I realized that they are dealing with a whole different set of dynamics. It took me a while to understand this, and only after analyzing my own relationship with my grandparents did I realize the importance of "letting it be".

As a mom (and an admitted control freak), I naturally feel the need to be in on everything. I caught myself squawking when my 93-year-old grandfather pulled out two of those chocolate-covered digestive biscuits for the children...only to remember that, once upon a time, he used to do that with me. Nonno had a nasty/fantastic habit of bringing me a Coffee Crisp every Friday afternoon after his bocce game. Is chocolate the best thing for young children? Probably not. What is good for them, however, is the sweet (no pun intended here) memory they will associate with those biscuits once they're older & wiser. I, for one, can't walk by a candy-bar display without smiling when I spot the Coffee Crisp. Never did a chocolate bar taste sweeter than when my grandfather pulled it out of his blazer-pocket, holding it out in my direction.

Grandparents offer an unconditional love that they couldn't afford their own children because they were too busy disciplining, potty training, forcing veggies down their throats, and everything else a frazzled parent must do. In a way, I envy the relationship that my children have with all four grandparents and their great-grandfather. On the other hand, I am so very grateful that they have the privilege of spending quality time with all their "nonni and bisnonno".

If I close my eyes, I can still imagine the feeling of walking to the park with the sun shining down on my beaming face...the smell of grass...and the feeling of having the loving hand of my grandmother wrapped around my right hand, and my grandfather's wrapped around my left. I hope and pray that many years from now, my children know how much love surrounded them. So I'll "let it be"... relinquish that control... After all, these grandparents did raise a few children themselves, did the not?