Two Hands, One Heart

Cool's granddaughter was here from Arizona, and after making jewelry together, they honored my request for a picture of their hands. How awesome that they thought of this pose! Emma was with us when we celebrated her grandma's 60th birthday at Il Lucano in Gig Harbor. After lunch we took a little field trip, riding a trolley down to downtown Gig Harbor and back to the Park & Ride lot where we had left our cars. This wasn't my only time to see Emma while she was here. She was at church too, and after church a bunch of us always go for coffee at Cutter's Point. This time we planned ahead and each brought four quarters and I brought the ever-popular game, Left Center Right. It's a mindless game, and it is oh so much fun. When people play it for the first time they always look at us as if to say, "What a dumb game--I don't want to play." The fun is seeing the change in their attitude once we get playing, and Emma was no exception. I ever heard her say, "I like this game." Sorry to say she didn't win, but her grandpa did, so here's hoping he took her out for something special and spent his $10 in earnings on his granddaughter.

Grandchildren are a special kind of BVGO (Bethel Valley Girl Offspring). In fact, I'm going to make up a new category for them, right on the spot. They shall forever more be known as BVGOO (Bethel Valley Girl Offspring's Offspring). There are nine BVGO's, and there are 16 BVGOO's.

Alas, there are only four Bethel Valley Girls, and between us we have eight hands and one gigantic heart.

I heart the Bethel Valley Girls, and six hours from now we will be together at j's house, sipping, supping, smiling and supporting. Can't wait!

SMG's (BVG's: The Next Generation, Part Two)

Please refer to my post of February 5, 2013 for BVG's: The Next Generation, Part One. I was just looking aimlessly through past posts, got to that one, read it and knew I had to do an update, given the fun news my daughter shared with me last night. I wrote back then about her and her friends Nicole and Katie who live by her in San Mateo, CA. Since then, Nicole has given birth to her twin daughters, Genevieve and Mabelle. Nicole and her husband moved from their place in San Francisco to a darling Victorian just two blocks from my daughter and her husband. How fun it is for my daughter to have her dearest friend live so close with her two adorable twin girls, who are eight months younger than my grandson. Meanwhile, their friend Katie who I also wrote about back then shows no inclination to remarry or have children. But no worries, because something even more wonderful and amazing is happening.

First of all, let me shout it to the rooftops---because it's safe to do so in this private blog---that my daughter announced to us a week ago that she is pregnant again! We're not supposed to tell anyone because she isn't telling her brothers until they are all together in Hawaii next month. But they don't read this blog, in fact they don't even know it exists, so unless this blog suddenly goes viral, this 'secret' is safe. I'm thrilled, of course. Tomorrow is the one year anniversary of me becoming a grandma for the first time, and my new motto is, "Keep those grandbabies coming!"

But there is something even more exciting to this story. Last night my daughter told me that her good friend Nidhi is also pregnant! They announced their pregnancies to each other at the same time. How fun it will be for them to be pregnant together. But the real kicker is the fact that Nidhi and her husband are looking for a place to live in San Mateo! They have a small apartment in the city (San Francisco), but now with the pregnancy and all they are choosing to move to where my daughter lives and where Nicole lives.

And I have a beautiful vision of the future, when my daughter and her two friends are at the park with their five (or more) little children. They will celebrate birthdays together, do preschool together, go to school together, and hopefully they will all play together on the tee ball team my daughter is going to coach.

And before they know it, in the blink of an eye, those children will be all grown up, off on their own, having their own children, and the SMG's (San Mateo Girls) will be sipping their wine and asking, "So, what's the latest on your grandchildren?"

May the SMG's be as close as the BVG's.........

Ode to Cool on Her 60th Birthday

Jokes about age can be kind of cruel,
And we could never do that to Cool.
This is the day that she turns sixty,
But truthfully, she doesn't look a day over fifty.
She still has dark hair--dark hair to DYE for--
And she has no afflictions--that she doesn't have medications for.
She still goes off to work each day in a hurry,
Anxious to put together yet another jury.
She's a wife, a mom, and a loving grandmother,
She's a friend, she's a sister, she's just not a brother.
She's the life of the party, so full of fun,
And when she smiles at you, you feel like you've been kissed by the sun.
She's not anxious to be the one that you laud,
But rather to hear you sing the praises of God.
So Cool, it's God we thank today for you,
And pray all His dreams for you will come true.
To be your friend is truly a pleasure,
And the bond of our Sisterhood is an incredible treasure.
So enjoy this sunny day and the hugs that are due,
With all our love we wish Happy Birthday to you!