A Day with My Almost Grandma & Grandpa

by BJ Baker

It’s been a long time since there was a little girl in this family. I was spending the day with my almost Grandpa and Grandma. Soon my Mommy is going to marry their son. I love David, and already he is my Daddy. That day my almost Grandpa and Grandma were going to take me to my swim lesson. I hoped that I did good because sometimes I got scared and I wanted them to be proud of me. But first we had to have a good breakfast. Oh, boy, blueberry pancakes.

After breakfast while my almost Grandma was washing dishes we had a conversation about what I should call her after my Mommy and “Daddy” get married. My almost Grandma said she had always wanted to be a Grandma, but what did I want to call her. I told her that I thought everybody ought to be able to choose their own name and that “Grandma” would be fine. She seemed happy about that.

I wondered where Grandpa Tommy had gone so I went outside to look for him. When I found him I couldn’t believe my eyes! I saw this big red motorcycle and he was dusting it off and – wait! – there were two helmets! Could it be? I’ve never ridden a motorcycle like this before! Grandpa Tommy was not sure my Mommy would want me to ride, but I told him that my Mommy wouldn’t care one bit. So off we went, all around the neighborhood. Yippee! Go faster! Go around the block again! What fun!- and Grandpa Tommy has a nice fat tummy for me to hold on to. Too soon we had to get off the motorcycle and go to swim lessons.

When we got to the pool my friend, Michelle, was there and Grandpa Tommy talked to us for a long time before our lesson started. He is so silly and we laughed and laughed. Oh, no, there’s our teacher. It was time to get in the water. I was thinking, “ Oh, I hope I do good today.” First we had to do our strokes and wasn’t too hard. Then we had to float and that was easy – and fun. Oh, no. Oh, no. It was time to jump in the water from the side of the pool. And . . AT THE DEEP END. I was really scared. I didn’t want to do this! And Grandma BJ was taking pictures! Everyone told me I could do it! But I was not going to do it! No way! I was the only one in the class who didn’t jump! I couldn’t help it, - I had to cry.

On the way home, Grandpa Tommy didn’t say much. I think it was because I was crying and he probably hadn’t heard a little girl cry in a long time. Grandma BJ told me it was OK that I didn’t jump, that I will do it next year and that they were proud of me because I could float so good and my strokes were very strong. They didn’t seem like they were mad, so maybe they love me after all. Yeah, I think they love me. Soon my Mommy will marry their son and finally there will be a little girl in the family again.

Best of all – I’m getting a Grandpa who has a motorcycle! How cool is that!

Click here to see the photograph which inspired this story.