It went as quick as we’d expect. A quick 48 hour trip to Orlando to see our one-year-old grandbaby this week then back home to Tennessee. People tell me all the time, “It’s delightful having grandbabies.” But what I think brings more satisfaction than anything is seeing your kids work at parenting. When our grandaughter during our visit became occassionaly odiferous, it was a joy….no, a pleasure, to hand her off to our son. It almost made us feel giddy to tell him this diaper change moment was an opportunity to bond at the highest level with his daughter. As he walked away with her at arms length, we knew he knew that that statement offered the same amount of value as the contents in her plastic pants. But it did make me feel better.

I’d also forgotten how musical and full of surprises a bathroom visit in the middle of the night could be in the home of small child. As I made my way down the hall, I would either step on little toy pieces that were akin to walking barefoot on coral or noise makers that would scare me to death. The true surprises stemmed from all the toys that required batteries. How come I can’t find a battery for my flashlight that lasts that long?

As I cautiously made my way I would jostle a toy that would suddenly play, “Dixie” or some such song, or a woman’s voice would say loudly, “S is for Seahorse.” Skip the burglar alarm system, there is no way an intruder could ever get through that house without fifteen toys singing, banging, or making barnyard noises all at the same time.

I came to bed like I had just done a clandestine mission from a spy movie; my heart was racing, and I was fearful I’d woken everyone up in the process of reaching my objective.

As our visit wound down, I did see first hand the wisdom in God giving parents children when they’re young. Our little grandaughter is into everything and is everywhere. I also noted a substantial change to our son and daughter-in-law’s home decor. Anything of value was at least five feet off the floor.

Good luck with that. I didn’t want to tell them of the time our youngest was a baby, he pulled together a rickity scaffolding contraption to get to the cookie jar on top of the refrigerator. It was funny, after he got on top, he couldn’t get back down. But then again, why would he want too if there were still cookies to be had? We found him contentedly singing away eating cookies from both hands.

The trip may have been short but we left with smiles. Our son has a renewed respect for his mother and me. “If I’m exhausted with one, he said, how did you deal with three children?” That my son, is the million dollar question. And even if we knew the answer, we wouldn’t tell. Some things just need to be experienced firsthand.