They call her Jewel

Okay, so I am a mom, as you all know.  And one of the most surprising revelations in adulthood, is that moms are just grown up kids.  By this, I mean that as a child my mom was just that "Mom."  She loved us, I knew that, but beyond that I can't say I thought about her feelings or emotions or responsibilities.  As  a result, when I was pregnant with our first child and was asked how many kids we wanted I always responded from a child's point of view.  I wanted three kids because for a long time it was just me and my brother and that didn't seem like enough fun to have around...yes, that third child would have been helpful when my brother and I were arguing or he was away at camp.  Enter McKinnon, Baby #1.  Wow, my world was rocked!  I kept asking my own mom, "When will I start FEELING like a mom?"  By that I meant, when will I start being just "Mom,"  not caring where we ate for dinner or bitter about doing all the laundry or having my own agenda for the day.  What I found out is being a mom is HARD!  And you don't lose your person when you become one (does that make sense?)...I am still ME but just in a new role.  And hmmm, how many kids my husband and I had would have consequences (i.e. MORE laundry...not just funner Christmases!)  So what on earth does this have to do with this session?  Well, enter Graham and Elliott into the scene (Babies 2 and 3 in our family).  Even after I learned the lesson above, I never translated it to MY mom still!  Meaning, she was now a GRANDMOTHER, but for me she was still, "Mom" but now with a new name "Granny."  I knew she loved me and now my kids but that was it, her job was to do that.  One day I called my mom about helping with the kids and (okay, mom confession) was kind of frustrated that she wasn't available.  I mean, come on, I have three kids, I am TIRED, I need some help!  What could she possibly need to do that was more important than helping ME!  Feeling slightly put out with my mom and extremely frustrated with the neediness of my kids that day I thought, "When will the day come that these kids don't NEED me so much?!!!"  Oh my gosh, the answer hit me like a ton of bricks, "Granny" wasn't just "Granny" or "Mom"  and the answer to my question of neediness was NEVER!  I still NEED my mom with the urgency I did as a child...for different things, but still as selfishly and urgent!  My view of grandmothers changed instantly at that moment.  Wow, I had come to appreciate my mother as a mother through becoming just that, a mother, but I hadn't appreciated who she was as a grandmother and the mother of a mother!  Life changing!  Again you ask, and this session, what does THAT have to do with anything?!  This session was arranged by two mothers to be taken with THEIR mother (the grandmother) and her grandchildren.  Wow, to see the love in this grandmother's eyes was tremendous!  It was not a difficult session at all because the love between this lady and those children was unhidable!  (I don't care if that is a word, it was THAT, UN-HIDE-ABLE!)  The grandchildren called her "Jewel" and they LOVED their Jewel... and just as importantly their Jewel LOVED them!  Being an awesome grandmother is more than being an awesome grandmother, it is being an awesome MOTHER at the same time!  To love my children with such intensity, such trueness can only be translated through a mother.  Grandmothers are not just "Mom + a generation".  They are real people with real issues as well, but they choose to put it aside to love their children with the greatest kind of love...extended, unconditional love.  So now as I see my mother love my children, I see it a little differently...a little clearer... she is loving ME, the daughter, as well, through my children.  What a gift...thank you Jewel for helping to make this a little clearer for me!  Like all grandmothers, you are certainly a gift from God!