Writer & Photographer / Tia Nielsen
It caught me off guard. Truly, I thought I could stay the course. After all, I have for six and a half years. What a surprise to observe my objectivity swirl away, like numerous others of my ilk in their robust middle age years!
I am not talking about politics (in this era of vitriolic “conversations”?!) nor the economic forecast, nor even, who should win television’s latest version of some type of American Idol. However, this admittedly is a subjective topic, this is about my grandkids.
Thus far, I had restrained the urge to brag up a storm about them to anyone within a hundred yards. I felt rather smug. I was not like those other grandparents who rambled on and on about their little treasures. I remained aloof and fairly muted. (Do I hear coughing in the background?)
However, on returning from a trip to the West Coast to see my 2-year-old granddaughter ,Alice, and meet her 3-month-old sister, I slipped up. I took digital photos. Normally, digital pictures are pleasant to see but do not stir up my grand-maternal emotions. Then I made a mistake. I had a handful of them printed at my favorite camera store.
Once those pictures touched my hands and seized my eyes, my emotions jumped into overdrive. I promptly had hundreds more printed. Now I am mailing them to nearly every relative in the country and even to a few overseas. And those are only the photos of two of my six grand treasures.
My consolation? I am helping the economy. As the owner of the camera store said, “Grandmothers keep us in business.”
Indeed!
