I’ve played a number of roles in my life.
Sister, student, journalist, daughter, wife, mother… But I believe my favorite role to date is that of grandmother or what my granddaughters call me, “Andma.”
My oldest granddaughter, Michelle, AKA “Winkie,” made me an Andma for the first time. Unlike many local gray hairs whose contact with grandchildren is hours or states away, I’m happy to say I live just two miles from my son, Tim, and have access to his daughters most any time I like — as long it’s before bedtime. After all, she needs to get up early to get to Glen Lake School where she is a kindergartner.
She will turn 6 in November.
Winkie’s favorite activities at Andma’s include: cooking/baking (she has her own apron); 4-wheel rides with papa (my husband, Joe); picking flowers; arts and crafts and scrolling through Amazon to look for anything that has to do with babies.
This is fortunate because she’s going to be a big sister again in October. Winkie already has a little sister, Maeve, who turned 3 in July. Sister No. 3 is expected next month.
Maeve also enjoys time at Papa and Andma’s. Like her older sister, she loves 4-wheel rides; cooking with Andma; and getting her hands into “pay dough,” AKA Play-Doh.
Our third granddaughter, Jocelynn Margaret “Josie,” lives in Traverse City. She turned 2 the day before cousin, Maeve, turned 3.
Josie goes “to school” while her mama, Emily, works as a critical care nurse at Munson.
Josie’s snuggles are something else. No doubt she will join her cousins and their interest in Barbies when she gets bigger.
A month ago, my cousin, Jean, delivered a huge Barbie house with all sorts of Barbie dolls, including her younger sister, Skipper, and multiple Barbie vehicles. Jean’s granddaughters had outgrown Barbies, so she thought our girls would enjoy them.
I remember having just one Barbie when I grew up and my parents couldn’t afford to buy me much more than the doll.
No change of clothes. So Andma’s house is now Barbie Central, occupying much of our living room. We plan to move the Barbies to another room yet this fall.
And while Winkie enjoys babies and Barbies, she is also crazy about fishing. Each spring, her dad and grandpa take her up to the Northport Sportsman’s fish derby. As recently as Sunday, they were in Suttons Bay watching the fish run. No fish were taken, but it was time well spent with Dad and “Papa Joe.”
Interestingly, our vocabulary has expanded to include “fetty” and “strawberry grapes.”
On one occasion, my daughter, Grace, who lives in Portland, Oregon, was in the area and recalled seeing Winkie take off her sweater and say, like an adult, “Wait a minute. I’m all fetty (sweaty).”
The girls are crazy about fruit and eat plenty. Maeve’s favorites are “strawberry grapes” — strawberries to the rest of us.
It’s amazing how their words and phrases become part of our lexicon.
At a time when there’s so much political derision and nastiness, I smile looking forward to my life as Andma and future grandchildren.
