A grandpa is someone you never outgrow your need for.

There are many advantages to living next door to my dad. I generally have a babysitter whenever I need one. I always have company for a Saturday BBQ, or a car to borrow if mine's on the fritz. My favorite "perk" is that Nathan has an awesome, super duper close relationship with his beloved Grandpa Harley. Today my dad picked up some prescriptions for me before he came home from work (another perk), and I asked Nathan to run next door and pick them up. He immediately asked if he could take his trains, and would he be spending the night? I told him to ask his Grandpa when he saw him and he said "oh Grandpa, could I please spend the night, please?" Grandpa told him maybe tomorrow night since he had to work in the morning and that he'd ask Grandma and call him back and tell him what she said. Well he called back a couple of seconds later and talked to Nathan on the phone and asked him, "would you like to spend the night tomorrow night?" Nathan, in this enthusiastic and downright shocked voice says, "Well sure! I'd love to!". The way he said it you'd never know it was his idea in the first place.

I'm really thrilled for Nathan to have so much extended family close by. Since he doesn't have siblings, yet, it means the world to me for him to have such deeply rooted family ties. Nathan is fortunate to have cousins, uncles and grandparents that he gets to see often. He's also blessed to have extended families (friend's kids who are like cousins), and grandparents all over the country.

When I was being raised I always had lots of extended family close. My dad's siblings and my mom's siblings and of course Nany and her kids who have always been sisters and a brother to me. Being an only child was always lonely, but made much less so by the presence of my loved ones. While I still hope Nathan will have siblings, I'm comforted by the knowledge that his family roots run deep and wide and he will never be alone.

"A child needs a grandparent, anybodies grandparent, to grow a little more securely into an unfamiliar world."
- Charles and Ann Morse