Grandma, I Promise Distance Won’t Change Anything

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    Grandma, I Promise Distance Won’t Change Anything - Columbia SC Moms Blog

    My husband and I did the unthinkable three years ago. We moved eight hours away from both sets of grandparents. We started a brand new life away from all of our family and friends. It wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t on purpose. We needed to move on. My husband wanted better opportunities at work, and in order to do that we had to move.

    Neither one of us will forget the conversations we had with our parents. We had the only grandchildren on both sides. They loved their grandsons. We knew there would be some push back.

    I am not sure if they ever truly understood why. I am sure most grandparents don’t want to hear the “why.” However, I want them to know, even with the distance, they will never be “forgotten.” This will work out for everyone in the end. Here’s why:

    You Will Always be There in Some Sort of Way…

    From the moment you first laid eyes on your grandchild you had an unbreakable bond. Much like that of their mom, they knew. They felt the love emanating from you. Not even with distance can that bond break. Your grandchild still asks about you. Mom and Dad do everything to facetime, call, text, show pictures, and assure them that Grandma isn’t going away. They know you will be back.

    When they do see you it’s so special for them. Whether you like to admit it or not, when you see your child or grandchild every day there is some sort of mundaneness about the circumstances. Only seeing them every once in a while helps build those fantastic memories. I grew up without my grandparents around. I can remember every single time I saw them. I have nothing but warm memories of our times together. It was surrounded by Christmas, birthdays and special trips over the river and through the woods. I do not have one negative memory of them growing up. There are actual studies that show distance does in fact make the heart grow fonder. I whole whole-heartedly agree.

    Trust Us

    I know you are still not convinced. Please do me a favor, and believe me. You did an outstanding job raising us. We are fiercely independent, and able to live out of our comfort zone. You gave us what we needed in order to fly. We are now passing on that independence to your grandchild (our children). We are showing them that we want to go after what we feel we deserve. Yes, it meant we moved, but in the current day and age this is necessary. We learned how to be great parents from your example.

    It is your time to enjoy life as well. Go off. Go on vacations. Visit us when you can. Take our children away from us, PLEASE. You had eighteen years of us, we won’t be offended if you prefer to spend time with your grandbabies.

    Love on them, but lay off the candy. There is such thing as too much candy. Hug them, create memories with them. I can PROMISE you that they don’t remember toys. They have no idea who got them what. It ends up in the toy box with the millions of other forgotten things. What they do remember is when Grandma read to them. When Grandma took them to the park, and spent one on one time with them. They will remember the rides on the tractor and the porch swing. 

    I promise you that this isn’t goodbye forever. It’s a new chapter in our lives, and yours. Your grandchildren will always love you, no matter if you are close, or far. You are their grandma, and have been since the day you first held them in your arms.

    Happy Grandparents Day, we will celebrate when we see you again!

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