I’m a Grandma!
And still a school mum for some years to come
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I always wanted to be a wife and mother, but didn’t think about being a grandparent! It used to be only a possibility in the long distant future, and now I know what is involved in parenting from experience — many, many blessings and a huge, complicated-at-times responsibility! My children having children has definitely been an ‘if and when’ they are ready subject, from my perspective.
So, when my daughter and her fiance were engaged to be married, and they were both keen for awhile to have children, and later thought that they would wait, my own emotions were on an even keel — I am totally happy to see how all my children’s stories evolve, one page at a time. It is simply my prayerful hope that their emotional well-being is maintained and their personal growth continues as they journey along.
My daughter and her husband were married last July (2021) and a couple of months later they told us the happy news that they were expecting a baby. Wow! that was exciting for all of us! My young sons were excited to be uncles, and I was excited at the prospect that I would be a grandma!
So, yesterday the day arrived when a message came that my daughter was in labor! It was on. My first baby was soon to be giving birth to her first baby.
After picking up the boys' things for their week with me, I drove down to the beach, minutes from home, and walked along the shore to take in some calming fresh air and pray for my daughter and the baby, and my son-in-law.
Later a message came from my daughter’s husband that he hoped the baby came soon so that she wouldn’t be in pain for too much longer. As the hours went by, I acknowledged I was feeling a bit anxious. What a relief when we arrived back from school pick-up to find photos and a message on my phone saying, “It’s a girl!”
I was fairly certain the baby would bear the girl’s names they had told us about because they had never wavered on that first name and middle name combination. My son-in-law had a dream early in the pregnancy that they had a baby girl called, Ivy Grace.
There was some delay in hearing back about the baby’s name, so it was wonderful to know the chosen name for certain when the confirmation came. I could now refer to my daughter and son-in-law’s new baby girl, my sons’ niece, and my granddaughter by her name, Ivy Grace.
My daughter has six brothers, and her husband has four brothers, so this little niece has 10 uncles!
During Ivy’s time in utero, I gave some consideration to what my coming grandchild might call me. ‘Grandma’ is common in my family, but it has become increasingly difficult for my children to know which grandma is being spoken of unless prefaced with explanatory information each time. That’s only going to get more complicated for Ivy!
My children call their Croatian-born grandfather, Dida, and their grandmother (English-born as it happens), Baba (pronounced ‘bubba’). These names were easy for our children and their cousins to say, and there was no confusion with my parents, who are called Grandma and Granddad by my children.
I considered Nana as a grandma name initially, because it’s easy to say and my dad had one grandmother called Nana, possibly spelled Nanna, I’m not sure. Later, I went back to considering some variation of Grandma, for tradition’s sake as both my grandmothers were ‘Grandma’ to me, (‘Grandma Roberts’ and ‘Grandma Corner’ when we needed to specify who we meant) and because my mother is Grandma to my children.
After thinking about ‘Gran’ for awhile, I wasn’t sure it was ‘the one’ and left the question of my future ‘grandma name’ for later. In recent months I was reading a novel set in a southern state of the US, and two adult sister characters referred to their grandmother as Mimi. It sounded affectionate to me and stuck in my mind.
In May this year, three of my sons and I were able to visit my daughter and son-in-law when she was 32 weeks pregnant. This was a big blessing since they had moved interstate several months before. On the long bus trip home, I started thinking about the ‘grandma name’ question again, and Mimi from the novel came to mind. I made all sorts of online searches while I had my phone in my hands and plenty of time to ponder the question afresh.
From that time on I decided that ‘Grandma Mimi’ it would be — Mimi for everyday use. The more I referred to it or tried it out in my own time, the more it felt right.
This is all dependent, of course on Ivy going with my plan — which I believe is probable. I know it’s also possible, however, that Ivy may get it into her head to call me something unexpected, like ‘boo-boo’ rather than Mimi (which in contrast, means beloved) and I will have to smile in rueful amusement, and no doubt come to love whatever alternative she may come up with.
Sharon Roberts-Radic is grateful for life, freedom, mercy, and Jesus, and for reading and writing about them!
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