My late husband, Jeff, and I used to talk about the day when our grandkids would be attending Stephen Decatur High School, the same school where our kids all graduated. That day came and it’s been fun watching them play ball, make lifelong friends, and start to think about their future as adults. The first two, Haley and Alexis, graduated over the past few years. Then it was time for prom for the younger ones. Whoa! How did that happen?

When you’re a parent and folks kindly tell you to enjoy it now, while they’re little, ’cause they grow up fast, you think they’re nuts. Time seems to drag when you’re in the middle of the madness. It’s true that when they’re two, they step on your toes and when they’re twelve, they step on your heart. You know the path they’re on and where it goes. All you can do is pray and you know what? That’s enough. That’s always enough.

I remember the days when they (ten grandkids) were all ten and under in age. The fun times of Grandy Girl parties, scavenger hunts, fishing derbies, boardwalk fun, and camping trips are too numerous to count. The laughs, the teasing, the competitiveness (if any of you know the McDonough’s, you get that), are such awesome memories.

Just so you know, I don’t have a competitive bone in my body. They get that from the McDonough gene, not mine. However, the desire to succeed is there, I just don’t care if I beat anyone else to the finish line. A friend of mine once said, “I’m competitive, but I don’t care if I win.” That describes me as well, but that’s another blog for another day.

Back to the prom. I made sure I was back from Florida to take prom pictures on Saturday. I rolled into my driveway at 4 PM and had to get started being the paparazzi at 5 PM. I decided I was to be awarded Grandy of the Year for my heroic efforts. So what if I’m the only Grandy on the East Coast. I’m still accepting the award.

As I watch the chapters of my life unfold, my heart wells up and so do my eyes. Never seemed to care that much when my own kids left home, why does this bother me so much?

Maddy, my Grandy Girl that saw her first sunrise with me in Chincoteague, looked like the princess that she is. When she was little, she loved to dress up, but as the teenage years moved in, dresses moved out.  She went through that “I don’t ever want to wear a dress again as long as I live,” to “Can I get a prom gown?” YES. “Can I get my nails done?” YES. Bad news is, the day after prom, she wanted rid of the acrylic nails and the dress now hangs in my closet to be worn at next year’s gala, by ME.

Clarke and Tristan are the boys of summer playing baseball, waiting tables at a crab house, and chasing chicks when the they aren’t chasing them. These are the same ones that love to hunt not just chicks, but deer and geese too. One is signed up to go in the Army and the other is pursuing his dreams of Major League Baseball. They’re both destined to be heroes.

I would love to say that being a grandparent, I don’t worry like the parents do. I find myself praying all the time as I know the dangers of being a teenager in today’s world. Seems it gets crazier as the generations go by. When I wrote, Stuck in the Onesies, it was partly to show how crazy the times were back in the 1960s. Looking back now, things seem rather simple then.

The one thing that hasn’t changed is love. It was there in the 1960s and has followed us here to 2017.