Ten Things that Make Me Happy #3

This is my granddaughter Gabriella on her sixteenth birthday.  She's the light of my life, and was from the moment she was born.  I swore I would not watch the birth...no way...but I agreed to come in for a few minutes.  In the room were my son, my daughter-in-law's mother and her sister.  If they could view the birth, I thought, so could I, but I sat down on the floor, just in case I felt faint.  I didn't.  I felt awed, euphoric...I'd witnessed a miracle. 

Ralph and I went out for lunch and came back in the afternoon.  And what was my first question after I'd made sure everyone was fine?.  I wanted to know her Apgar score.  You can tell from that I work with small children.  Her score was 9, very high. and I went back to the room reassured.

From that day on, Gabby has been one of my greatest joys.  She's smart (of course.  What else would a grandmother say?)  To my delight (I'm a speech pathologist, after all), she started talking early.  Not surprisingly, her first word was "cat." 

Early on, she showed a great imagination and often made up stories.  When her grandfather was hospitalized with leukemia. she wrote stories for him.  One of his last wishes was to see Gabriella before he died.  "I hope she won't forget me," he said after her visit.  When I repeated that to her several months after he died, Gabriella said, "Of course I won't forget him.  I loved him."  How touched he would have been at that remark.

Gabriella is not only smart, but she's perceptive, empathetic...and also stubborn at times and she has become a typical teenager. I'm enjoying watching her grow up.  No, she isn't perfect, but she's fun...and she's MY granddaughter, and I love her more than I can say.