Sometimes we remember members of our family saying things that do not sound right.  My grandmother was one such person in my life.

When I was a little girl, I remember my Grandmother, who lived next door, waving goodbye to my uncle, aunt, and cousins as they left to go home after Christmas.  It had been a wild and crazy four days of five adults and four kids.

My Grandmother and all her family, except my Dad. (About 1960)

My boy cousins were six and eight, and my little sister and I were five and three.  Christmas Eve dinner was cooked and eaten, Santa came, we visited all Christmas Day, and it was the day after.  As their wood-paneled 1956 Ford station wagon pulled out of the driveway, my grandmother waved goodbye and said, “Glad to see them come and glad to see them go.”

I remember being so confused.  All weekend, she laughed, cooked, cleaned, ran around after us, and seemed to enjoy herself.  This was also the sweetest person in my life.  I remember mulling over what she said.  It seemed so mean.

Now it is over 50 years later,  and I’m in front of our home waving goodbye to my kids and their families.  The grandchildren, most of whom are rug rats, are mostly toddlers.  And that memory crept back from long ago when I was standing in my grandmother’s driveway.

“Glad to see them come and glad to see them go.”

I understand her perfectly now.    🙂

Chuck and me and our Six Grandchildren