A baby boomer’s new love affair

If baby boomers like us have kids, by this stage of life those kids are mostly grown. Which means the next stage, if we’re lucky, is grandkids. Boomer Allyson Altit kids moved a few years ago to Israel and she followed them and now, she gets to be close to her first grandchild.

It’s impressive to me how these most difficult times, which everyone in the world is collectively experiencing, have turned out to be the greatest of times too.

I’ve discovered that the best kind of human to be right now is a newborn baby. But a very close second best is to be a grandma. This has been an unintentional part of how I have coped during these wild days of the worldwide pandemic.

Allyson with her girls.

It dawned on me, as I began spending many hours in a day with our new grand baby since her arrival just under three months ago, that to be a baby at this point in time is a lucky thing. It warms my heart that she doesn’t yet know of all the bad news out there. Lucky for me too, since one of my favorite pastimes is to watch her stretch out her limbs, each and every time she wakes from a nap.

Please don’t take this lightly, but to be able to watch the intense twist of her body, coupled with the stretch from her arms over her head and down through her legs all the way to her tippy toes, is something this baby boomer didn’t really see as a parent. When I raised my own children, I didn’t have time to sit and watch this important activity of a newborn. Now I’ve got the time, and I’m truly mesmerized each time I see it happen. According to her precious facial expressions, she too is enjoying her stretch to the max.

Allyson with the new grand child.

Soon I will be entering a new decade when my birthday comes in January, and the feelings stirring around inside of me are different than the last time I changed the first digit of my age to the number 5. The one major event that has contributed to these fresh feelings is obviously my grand baby. The sentiments are intense but most significant is that they’re as wonderful as a feeling could ever be.

No doubt many baby boomers can relate to the reflection of the passage of time. I thought it was exciting when I turned fifty, but turning the first digit to a 6 is having a big impact on me. As I find myself looking back on my life, I am confronted with many “firsts” these days, all, thankfully, from our new grand baby.

Allyson

To be able to give love these days to a newborn is fulfilling in a way that I did not expect. I’ve always believed it is so much better to be in a position to give rather than receive. And loving and hugging our baby is even more than that. She so naturally loves me back, showing her recognition of my voice and my face with her smiles so wide and the opening of her eyes brighter than I’ve ever seen before.

Wow! The acknowledgment is huge. The sweetest love in the world faces me and that’s why today, there is nothing that can get me down.