My son-in-law and his daughter were here this weekend so he could install a rail down the back porch steps for me (in answer to my daughter’s frequent plea that I HAD to have some rails). During that time, seven year old granddaughter and I played while daddy worked. I have ongoing anxieties about how to “grandparent” and more than once a good friend of mine has reassured me that we are all treading new ground.
As a result, I’ve been exploring my own ground and realized this weekend that I have found a great path to follow. I remember my friend saying, “I don’t even remember my grandparents talking to me.” Well, that’s hardly a problem for me – I bore mine to death with my talking. But then I realized that the important part of her words were “I don’t remember” for that is what we as grandparents need to do. We are called upon to create memories.
And that’s what Meg and I did this weekend. We discovered my supply of “stamps” that one uses to create little ink impressions. I have quite a collection that include Star Wars ones, Harry Potter, my personal signature, a huge nativity scene one, and even one of the letter S. She and I stamped away trying each one out. I had a multicolor ink pad in my craft box, and we experimented with ways to use the different colors.
And perhaps the best memory for me was when we discovered a stick of paraffin and the metal stamp used to create a wax impression. I found some matches and started to light the wax. Her eyes opened WIDE as she said, “You aren’t supposed to use those.” Clearly someone had impressed upon her the danger and she figured I was also prohibited from striking them. I reassured her that it was okay for grownups to do it (of course, maybe in her eyes I’m no longer a grownup). We melted the wax and made the impression and the memory.
I am looking ahead to more ways I can create memories for my grandchildren. For as I age, what I know more and more is that all we have to carry with us into life are memories. The possessions are replaced as they become broken, no longer needed, or outdated. Only the memories stay.
Susan E L Lake 
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