Understanding Grandchildren

Everyone I know that has grandchildren, tell me that it is so much different than being a parent. I believe I figured out why they say this. When I first became a parent I thought of so many things I wanted to do and share with my children. Somehow things were never the way I had planned. I didn't ignore my kids, or not treat them well and they were never really deprived of anything.
As they grew older, my responsibilities as a parent grew . I just didn't have the time to share like I wanted to because I was busy working to provide for them and their mom. Some times I just couldn't be there for them, like a ball game or dance class, because I had to work. It is a "catch 22" you want to be with them, but you need to work to provide for them.
Now my children are grown and on their own and have their own responsibilities. I still have responsibilities but I also have more time and a little more money than I did then. That is the difference. I can give as much time as I want to my grandchildren. I can treat them and spoil them so much more than I did my children. I worry and care about their well being, but their father now has the duty to provide for them.
It is easier now to take time off and give up extras all for the grandkids. I
can give more of myself to them. So now I understand what my grandparent friends say, it is easier and a lot more fun. Besides, when they get cranky and
restless, I can give them back to their parents and go home to my quiet house.

Reading Obits

In this past Sunday's paper, Lisa Scottoline, wrote an article about reading
obituaries. It turns out she is an avid reader of them. I thought I was weird, because I like to read them also, but apparently we have something in common.
Obituaries tell us so many things about people, that we never would have a gave
thought about. We learn about actors and dancers and inventors and doctors, judges and all sorts of everyday people who have made our lives just a little bit better. Most of these people went through life relatively unnoticed, until they passed away. It seems that when someone writes their obituary, they become famous for that short period of time. It brings meaning to a life. We all can
understand what that particular person meant to his or her family, and their
contributions to society.
Reading the obituaries, can also help us find out about our past relationships with friends and neighbors. How many times have we wondered how so and so's parents are doing, only to find out to late that they passed away. We might have been able to attend the service or send a nice card if we only knew.
I will keep reading the obits, and thanks to Lisa, I won't think of it as being
weird.

Baseball and Dad

It's finally spring. The trees and flowers are blooming, and the days are getting longer. What I like about spring is that Baseball has returned. There is always a new beginning, a feeling of hope, and an excitement that lets you feel things will be better.

Baseball is the one game that fathers and sons, grandfathers and grandsons can have many a conversation about. It is probably the only game that all men have played at one time or another. Each generation has its own list of great ballplayers, Honus Wagner, Babe Ruth, Willy Mays, Mickey Mantle right up to the stars of today. Grandfathers and fathers would tell how great the ballplayers were in their day. The players today would not make it in those days, they would say.

My Dad, liked Baseball. I always thought he just had a passing interest. He really liked the game. As I got older we would talk about the Phillies and what happened in the game the night or day before. When I would go visit him and Mom, the game was always on. I don,t ever remember him having a favorite player, but he knew about Ashburn and Roberts, Callison, Richie Allen. He knew the good players on other teams too.

In the last year of his life, the Phils were making a run for the pennant. He knew they didn't have any great players, but he liked the way they played the game. Somehow they won when they shouldn't have. In the last few days, while in the hospital, he told me " I really like that Pete Incaviglia", he can really hit some big home runs." I know why he liked Pete. It was because Pete was Italian. My Dad liked the Phillies, but to have an Italian playing for them and doing well, was more than he could ask for.

My Dad never got to see the Phils go to the World Series in that year, but the last time we talked, it was about Pete and the Phillies. Every year when Baseball season starts, I think of that time, and I think of my Dad, and I smile and say to myself " I like that Incaviglia".