This Is the Good Stuff

By Melissa Hull

Apparently, I can put as much thought into baby shower prizes as I can into the bigger questions of my life. At the moment, the prizes are a lot more fun.

Callie, my daughter-in-law, has her baby shower coming up, and I’m excited. I want to get everyone together and laugh and enjoy this beautiful family that keeps growing.

I’ve spent plenty of time lately examining my life. Right now, there’s so much happening in it that I want to enjoy.

We just found out Callie can feel little baby Drew kicking. I love knowing that while we’re all making plans for my grandson, he’s in there making himself known. I already wonder what he’ll be like and what it will feel like to finally hold him.

News like that has a way of rearranging my attention.

I find myself thinking about my children, this grandson of mine, the family he’s coming into and how much I love the people I get to share all of this with.

I’ve been having so much fun planning the shower with Julie, Callie’s mother. We always have so much fun together, and now we get to share the excitement of becoming grandmothers to the same little boy. What a blessing to be part of our children’s lives together and now get to share in our grandson’s life, too.

There’s something wonderful about having someone who is just as excited as you are about all of it. We can talk about the shower details and our kids and this little boy who is going to make both of us grandmothers.

And yes, I am taking the prizes seriously. It’s a couples shower. If we’re asking everyone to participate in the games, I think we should give them something worth winning.

I’m enjoying having these things to think about. There are decisions to make, but they’re happy decisions. We’re planning a celebration. Every detail comes back to the fact that my grandson is coming, and we get to celebrate his arrival with people we love.

I keep catching myself thinking, How wonderful is this?

My son is becoming a father, and Callie is becoming a mother. Lance and Joey are becoming grandfathers, and Julie and I are becoming grandmothers. We’re all so blessed to get to share this experience, and I love that we get to enjoy it together.

I have so much love in my life. My children, my family, my expanded family. People I can call, laugh with, make plans with and count on. And lately, I’ve been thinking about how much I want them to know what that means to me.

Sometimes I finish a conversation and think about how much I enjoyed it. Then I go back to whatever I was doing, and the person who made me feel that way never hears it.

I’ve been thinking about closing that little gap.

Telling Julie how much fun I’m having. Letting my children know I’m looking forward to seeing them. Actually making the plan when I tell someone we need to get together.

Nothing elaborate. Nobody needs to prepare remarks.

I just know how good it feels when someone says, “I’m so glad we got to do this,” or remembers something I mentioned and asks about it later. It makes me feel cared for. I want the people in my life to have that feeling with me, too.

With the holidays coming, there will be plenty of opportunities to spend time together. I’m looking forward to the conversations that happen while everyone is getting ready, the laughter over something that probably won’t sound nearly as funny when we try to explain it later.

Those are some of my favorite parts of being a family.

And now we have someone new to make room for.

I wonder what stories we’ll tell my grandson about this time. How excited we were. How much planning went into celebrating him before he arrived. How his grandmothers managed to have a very good time in the process.

For now, I’m happy to be here, making plans with Julie, hearing updates from Callie and imagining my son holding his son.

That thought alone can keep me smiling for quite a while.

This is the good stuff, and I’m having such a good time.