So Far Away

Our grandson Isaac is 9 months old already. Time really flies when you are so far away (almost 6000 miles away) from your grandson, especially the first year of his life. They grow so quickly in that first year.

It’s times like this that I feel so far away from our grandson Isaac (and our kids):

Since we saw him two months ago, he is now sitting up on his own, crawling all over the place, has begun to eat table food, listens to music and beats in sync to the rhythm, and a variety of other amazing things.

Fortunately my daughter-in-law Liz sends me short videos of all of these milestones, and Jonathan makes sure that we Skype regularly.

I am grateful and thankful for today’s technology – Skype, WhatsApp, telephone with unlimited free calls to the USA, email and all the rest; however it does not take the place of  real hugs and kisses and face to face talking and singing songs and reading stories together, and especially rocking him to sleep in my arms.

We were there when Isaac was born June 18, 2016 and for the first seven weeks of his life. Then we were away for three months (seemed so long), and then we were with them for two full months and all of the holidays from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Eve into the middle of January. But now we will have been away for four months (feels really a long time) until we are with them again for five weeks (we will be celebrating Isaac’s first birthday!!) Where has the time gone? Thank goodness for all of the technology as it has allowed us to keep up with Isaac’s every move while he is growing up in front of us (on a screen).

Both Steve and I have decided that we do not want to have more than 3 months in between our visits to see our grandson Isaac and our kids, so we will be going back at least three times a year and having them come to visit us in South of France once a year. That is a plan that we can live with for now.