Being a Grandparent. There are certain things that happen in your life that you never forget. People say things and at the time they say it you can’t identify with what they said, but boy it comes back to you year after year after year. I am talking about what my mail carrier said to me  forty-five years ago. It was an especially hot summer day and  a very tiring day running after two rambunctious boys.  I was walking up the street to my house, a two year old in one hand and a four year old in the other. As I walked they jumped and walked, twirled and walked and leaped and walked. Ruth was just putting mail into my mailbox and I guess saw the exasperated expression on my face. She rolled down the window and said, “Charlotte, at least you put them to bed at 7:00pm and you know where they are, just wait until you have teenagers, once they drive then your worries just begin.” I really thought what a great idea, they are grown and I don’t have to give them baths, they can drive themselves, no more trips to Nursery School, I really couldn’t identify with what Ruth said, that is until the two of them were teenagers. Fifteen years later Ruth is still  delivering my mail and after an exhausting night of worry, as now they are driving, I saw her and reminded her of what she had said, and told her how right she was.  She replied with “Oh, you think this stage is difficult, wait until you are a Grandparent, now you see what they are doing and you can’t say a word.  At least as a parent you have a certain amount of control.  Grandparent?  Forget it, you have to just watch and you can’t say anything.”  Once again being a Grandparent seemed easier than being a parent of teenagers.  However, as in the past, Ruth’s words come back to me.  In one respect,  I don’t feel I have wanted to say anything as they have been really good kids, and truthfully I probably would have spoken up if I thought necessary, but you do worry and there is not a thing you can do.  Perhaps you wouldn’t worry as much if your own children had not shared years later all their escapades, and what they did to fool you and what they got away with when they were teenagers.  The worry was brought home to me this past week when my oldest Grandson, who is a senior and a member of the High School Glee Club, sang a  Frank Sinatra hit with the Jazz Band accompanying him, at their Winter Concert, fedora, suit and all.     It was one of those times you wished you were living close by so that you could go, but even though you were not there, the nerves leading up to the Concert were still the same.  My advice to him was a little different than what I would have given my own sons, as I think I am wiser now,  and that was…Life begins at the edge of your comfort zone, nothing can ever replace the feeling of accomplishment.   You are going to feel so good when it is over.  At the time it probably didn’t make him feel any better, but I’m sure my words came back afterwards.  as he did feel good and he did love it.   We were all nervous for and with him, but he did just fine, as my son said he would…but oh did I worry.  I don’t know what I would have done if I were there.