Grandchildren

      As our grandchildren have grown up, I saved every photo, drawing and  letter or thank you note and greeting card they (or their mother) sent us.  There are a lot more photos and drawings of  the oldest children, Joel, Ellen, Tony and Stephen than  the youngest, Tim, Charlie and Jonny.   For a gift for their graduation from high school, I have put all of this in a scrapbook.  I think they have enjoyed them.  They seem to enjoy looking at the photos, smile at their preschool drawings and laugh out loud at some of their comments in the letters they wrote.  I have two to do this year, Charlie and Jonny are both graduating in May.  I've already started to collect things for their scrapbooks and will get started after the first of the year.
      Each card we received started with their name written by parents and then markings by them while their parents held their hand and then those first - usually very large letters, with sometimes backwards 'n's and 'r's. and as they grew the almost indecipherable scrawl that is their signature as a teen.  
      This all came to mind this morning when Father's homily talked about how each of us is a work of art, created by God - I couldn't help but think some of us are more like a Picasso than a Botticelli.  And the best part of being a creation of the Almighty is that we are constantly changing.  The portrait we were when we are young is not who we are now and that is a good thing. Unlike the masterpieces of Michelangelo and Monet,  we grow, we become better, more beautiful as we learn to be.
       Just as those signatures of my grandchildren changed over the years, so have they grown from babes, adolescents and now to interesting multicolored adults.  The joy of a grandparent is surviving the kaleidoscopic crises in life our children create for us and now enjoying their prismatic offspring.  I am blessed.

 
....and really glad I own a thesaurus!!!