Grandma Henke

I have a mother and I am a mother so I know love.

I know what it’s like to wake up in the night frightened by a storm, a loud noise, or a bad dream.    I know what it feels like to scrape the skin off your knees on the rough surface of the road.     I know how it feels to go to the first day of anything new.    I know how sometimes you are just too tired to walk to your own bed.     I know how good it smells to walk into the house when there are cookies in the oven or spaghetti sauce simmering on top of the stove.    I know about broken hearts and feeling left out of a crowd of peers.    I know the excitement of a prom and the need for a beautiful dress.   I know the pain of ear infections and fevers, stomach aches and or sore throats.    I know how homesickness feels when you go to spend the night with a friend or a cousin and realize as you climb into bed that it isn’t your own.       And I know how it feels when Mom kisses the scrapes and tears away,  listens to the details and emotions,  is always there no matter how long it takes or how late into the night you need her.   I know how it feels when somehow Mom finds a way to get that important dress for the prom.

I know what it feels like to have morning sickness … and to hold a sweet new baby with the beautiful smell of birth that lingers with them for such a short while.   I know what it feels like to comfort a frightened child, kiss a bruised elbow, see a tear streaked face when they break a toy or tear their favorite dress.    I know how it feels to walk the floor with a sick child, kneel in prayer on their behalf, clean up a bed full of vomit.    I know how it feels to have little … and big … arms thrown around me and hear the words, "I love you Mom."     I know how it feels when children are disappointed, heart broken, and feel left out.   I know what it feels like when they make poor choices and have to suffer the consequences.   I know how it feels when they feel success in what they are trying to achieve, when they learn new things, and when they have good friends.    I know how it feels to worry when they are out too late or have friends that can’t be trusted.    I know how it feels when suddenly they fall in love and without much more than a wave goodbye they are out the door to start a new phase of their life.   

I know how much love is in a grandma’s heart, how it feels to be adored by little people who don’t see any of your faults, to listen to their concerts and recitals, watch their athletic games, spoil them with little treats and unexpected gifts.    I know how it feels when they tell you they love the smell of your house and want to be with you even with gap of generations.    I know how it feels when they hold your face in two hands and tell you you are beautiful even with the wrinkles.    I know how a grandmother loves.

I have a mother, and I am a mother, and I am a grandmother so I know the best kind of love there is.

Edna Henke