Today’s guest post is written by Linda.
What did you call your Mom? I called mine Ma sometimes, other times Mom. When I got home from school I’d yell out ‘Ma, I’m home.’ I think my siblings mostly called her that too. My Dad called her that as well most of the time, but if he was feeling playful or figured he was in trouble for something, he’d call her Mummy. Which made her blush sometimes so you knew what those two were up to or if she was mad at him for something she’d give him a look. Ah, those two were in love til the day they died. But I digress.
Eventually I had my own kids, five to be exact, and of course I spent a lot of time getting them to say mama and the like when they first started to talk. Now that they are adults, they have fallen into a few different camps. Nick and Andy call me Ma. Laura calls me ma, mummy, mama, madre, and other variations. Jenny calls me Momma and mostly Kate calls me Mom or Grandma.
Which brings me to the best part, grandma. I love being a mom, but being a grandma is by far the best. I have new little ones to love and I also get to see my kids as parents and words can’t even describe how great that is.
There are currently four little ones that I am grandma to. When I found out my son was having his first child, my first grand, besides being overjoyed at the idea I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what the baby would call me. I mean, I wanted something special, unique that would be the way all future grandkids and the world would know me! I struggled for months with this and finally a wise friend said,”how about grandma? nobody’s a grandma anymore”. And there it is.
Brecken, 4 and Mabel, 3 call me grandma. Emerie, 2 calls me Ma and always with a twinkle in her eye for some reason and Eleanor is 10 months old and I look forward to hearing what she calls me.
Recently I went to a concert in the park to meet up with the kids and grands and as I struggled to carry my lawn chair and picnic basket over to them, Brecken saw me coming, and yelled out so everyone could hear, “grandma” and came running to me. It is a moment I will never forget. I’m tearing up just remembering it.
So no offense to all you Nana’s, G’s, Gee’s, Mimi’s and all other variations, just call me grandma.