3.8.04

this past weekend we enjoyed a behind-the-scenes tour of the park formerly known as Pacific Bell Park, SBC Park, home of the SF Giants. the tour was organized by the san mateo mothers club. it was a lot of fun and it made me realize how many fun events i'll get to be a part of now that i'm a mom: egg hunts, soccer games, baseball games, picnics, an endless number of trips to museums, parks, playgrounds, petting zoos, regular ol' zoos, tree farms, aquariums, pools, haunted houses, beaches, pumpkin patches, tourist attractions...the list is endless.

while we were at the park, i overheard my friend leslie talking to her 4 year-old. all i caught were the words "god" and "she". wow, i thought, things are pretty progressive over at leslie's house! turns out that leslie's mom is known as "ga" to her 7 grandkids. [a name invented by the first one, no doubt.] of course, as leslie pointed out, she might as well be god. that's how important she is to leslie.

and that's how important emily's grandmas are to us. where would we be without grammie martha and tutu jewel? first of all, we wouldn't be anywhere, that's for sure. we understand their importance as mothers [at least enough to take it for granted on a daily basis], but we underestimate their importance as grandmas. but who else would take 3 weeks off work to visit you, stay in a hotel, and be ok with a jigsaw puzzle as her only form of entertainment because you are too big, too tired, and too pregnant even to walk around the mall? who else can you ask to babysit, leave them for six hours with your kid who isn't yet ready to take a bottle instead of a breast, and pay them nothing? who else flies by san francisco on her way home from every conference she attends, even if the distance from the conference location to your home is greater than the distance from the conference location to her home? who else buys your kid 10 outfits, one in every color...every 3 months? who else decides that what your kid needs is any expensive baby gadget that you are too cheap to buy and then has it delivered to your door via 2-day air? who else would be thrilled with an offer to spend time together when that offer is contingent on driving an hour and a half in rush hour traffic, then driving another hour, then hanging out with your kid in a car for yet another hour while you meet with a contractor? the answer to these questions is obvious: nobody.

i've only been a mom for 8 months, but i've learned enough in 8 months to know that when that first grandkid called his grandma ga, he knew what he was saying.

xoxo
mary [mary @ marytsao.com]




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