SLICE OF LIFE

So this parenting stuff?
I'm gonna admit it up front.
I just don't quite have the hang of it.
Last week, for example, I became a grandmother.
Actually, I officially became a grandmother on November 30, 2014.

But I didn't meet my granddaughter, Esveidy, until last weekend.

Maybe I should back up just a little.
In Spring, 2014, my son, who was 18, called from college in Arizona to tell me that his girlfriend, who I had never met, might be pregnant. We had, as I remember, one of those "typical" sounds like you just made your life a whole lot harder conversations.

And then a few weeks later, there was another conversation.
She wasn't pregnant.
There was a really confusing phone call from the girl, who I still hadn't met, that summer.
And then in November, there was a baby.
But my son's name was allegedly not on the birth certificate.
The mother didn't want anything to do with him.
And then this summer he was going to go down to Arizona.
But then he didn't.

And then in December, he asked if I would buy a plane ticket.
I did, as an early birthday present.
On Christmas Day, he flew down to meet his daughter.
This is the first picture I received.

He stayed two weeks, then came home. At one point, the plan had been that he would get a job and resume his education at Denver Community College, with hopes of attending another college that had a basketball team next fall. But then he decided he didn't want to do that. Instead, he wanted to go back to Arizona to be closer to his girlfriend and baby.

So last week we got the car tuned up. On Saturday morning, he and I got in the car, and drove the 13 hours to Phoenix. On Sunday, we went grocery shopping, then went back to the apartment, so I could meet C and Esveidy. And of course, I am totally smitten with the world's cutest little punkin, and ready to pick up and move down there immediately.

I have to admit, I'm more than a little worried. My son doesn't have any idea what he wants to be when he "grows up." He only has about a year of college. He doesn't have a job yet, has never done anything more significant than flipping burgers and making doughnuts.

And maybe more importantly, he's never had a dad. He doesn't know how dads are supposed to behave, not even the simple stuff like how to put the baby in the car seat, let alone how to support a daughter emotionally. And although he has had at least one long term girlfriend and lots of shorter ones, I'm not sure he knows much about relationships, at least not healthy ones. But he's trying.

And so a new chapter in life begins.

Grandmother.

I sure wish there was a book I could read.