Let’s Celebrate Grandparents Day!
Photo of Andreas, Miguel Pastrana’s grandchild
Life is full of milestones. The moment that we are born and begin to experience the outside world once we have departed our mother’s womb (It is a good thing that we do not remember that the first five to ten minutes we are manhandled by a bunch of strangers or we all be diagnosed with PTSD). As time passes, we reach milestones set as we grow from a child to adolescent, from adolescence to adulthood. Once we have reached adulthood, there are some milestones that many of us will experience.
Becoming a parent is one of these milestones that changes our lives in an unimaginable way. Just recalling when your child is born brings a tide of emotions that cannot be expressed in words. It is a time where all human emotions collide like atoms colliding during the big bang. It is so euphoric that even the most ardent atheist may even contemplate a divine power. These emotions are so powerful that it is so astonishing that we can have so much love, kindness, and protectiveness towards this little person and as we raised our little person and witness all the milestones that our parents experience with us.
Then comes the one milestone that will unite you with your child in a profound manner. The moment that your child becomes a parent. To see the happiness and the explosion emotions on your child’s face reminds you of the first time you held your child. But now, it is your child placing their child in your arms and saying, “Say hello to GrandPa/GrandMa.â€
Being a Grandparent has been a wonderful gift. The first time I saw my grandson was through an iPad just hours after he was born. I watched my son Nicholas hold his son and mimicking a small child saying grandpa in Spanish. I had tears in my eyes and discovered a new wonder in the world and once again felt a euphoria that words cannot express. So to my son Nicholas and grandson Andreas, I will always be here for you as long as the good Lord sees it so.
By Miguel Pastrana, BirthMatters Board Member