Reason to Hope...

My grandson came to visit yesterday afternoon, and so my hope meter got replenished. He looks so much like his Mom, that it takes me back to when she was my baby, my Pookie, and how sweet and adorable she was, how much hope I had for her future. His temperment, however, is not like hers was/is. She was always such a happy baby, hardly ever cried, always content to be, whether she was being held or when she was in the floor exploring.

My grandson -- Chubawubba -- on the other hand, is more like his Aunt in temperment. My other daughter, while adorable and beautiful in her own right, was called Sweet Pickle. Everything set her off screaming. She was born screaming at the top of her lungs and didn't stop until she was 12 weeks old, and I went back -- gratefully! -- to work. Getting Sweet Pickle to laugh and be happy was the crowning accomplishment of any day. Luckily, my Mom has the patience of Job, and both Mom and my Dad adore babies -- cranky or not. I am blessed to have my parents living close by, and so my daughters spent their days at Mamaw & Papa's while I worked. So both of my daughters grew up with loving adoration beaming down on them every day. Luckily, my grandson gets to see his Papa and G-G every day, and their adoration continues to the next generation. Pookie decided not to go back to work after Chub was born, so he gets a quadruple dose of adoration (parents, grandparents, Aunt, great-aunts and uncles, and great-grandparents) on a regular basis.

So, yesterday my hope was lifted by getting to see and play with my grandson for a few hours. It's funny... when my daughters were young, I was so into saving the environment for them, recycling and conserving, and here comes my Chubawubba, and now I'm all focused on righting wrongs, recycling again (I'm proud to say that my recycle bags regularly out number my garbage bags on Pickup day), and wanting to make sure that our leadership changes to bring us back to the point where we can be proud of our country again.

For Chubawubba, who doesn't deserve to inherit this mess that we've made.