Saturday afternoon, we -- dh & I, BIL & SIL, the nephews and their wives and Little Great-Nephew -- descended upon StepMIL and her family for a rare (since covid) pre-Christmas visit, bearing gifts. Dh, BIL, SIL & I had been there in August for a visit, but they hadn't seen LGN since the weekend before the pandemic descended upon us (in early March 2020), when he was not quite four months old. Everyone there was double-vaxxed, but out of deference to Younger Nephew & his wife (who are even more paranoid/cautious about covid than dh & me, and who were heading from there to visit her sister and her family), we wore masks for most of our visit.
It was great to see them after so long -- to catch up and watch their delight in having LGN there. He didn't exactly climb onto anyone's laps (other than his parents' & grandparents') -- but he didn't make strange either, and despite all the tempting (breakable!) tchotchkes that StepMIL loves to collect and display throughout her house, he didn't touch anything (although he was fascinated by the plastic Santa figurine standing by the living room entrance -- just his height -- and made several trips around the Christmas tree in the middle of the living room to look at the pretty coloured lights. At one point, he climbed up into his great-grandfather's easy chair. Awww.).
StepMIL's grandson, now 13 (!), tore himself away from his video games and joined us for a while. He's shot up like a weed during the pandemic. I couldn't help but remember the photos we've taken of him over the years, standing between our two towering nephews (both well over six feet tall), and insisted we take an updated photo, including LGN (held by his dad). StepMIL's grandson, whose head touched the nephews' elbows just six years ago, is now less than a head shorter than them both. Yikes!
I couldn't help but think about my late FIL (who died in August 2018). I'm just 5 feet, 4 & 1/2 inches -- and *I* was taller than him. There was nothing he loved more than standing between his two tall, handsome grandsons, chuckling over how much they towered over him -- and he adored stepMIL's grandson too. I know he would have gotten a huge kick out of LGN, his great-grandson (first & only great-grandchild, so far). How he would have enjoyed this!
(I couldn't help but think of the not-so-little girl who might have been standing among them, too. 23 years old now!!)
(StepMIL, predictably, made a comment about LGN needing a little brother or sister. I was secretly proud -- and amused -- when Older Nephew's wife shot back, politely but firmly, "Not for a while yet." You go, girl!!)
You can find more of this week's #MicroblogMondays posts here.
Aah, the joy of family photos, and the sadness when we see the people who are no longer there/should have been there. You very unexpectedly gave me a few tear pricks in my eyes - I've been thinking of my father the last few days, as it was his birthday, and also the anniversary of my first ectopic baby, who would have been 19 this year.
ReplyDeleteAnd "hear hear" to ON's wife's response to the predictable comment. It's the kind of response my husband used to make - I was always very proud of him when he did that!