My Granddaughter

This past weekend my granddaughter stayed at my home.  This is nothing unusual.  She has been doing that most of her life.  The first time she was only three weeks old.  My wife and I were in our mid-fifties at the time and I thought we were both going to die.  Chloe woke up every hour wanting a bottle.  I had raised two of my own children but time had erased my memories of how much work an infant was, especially in the middle of the night.  I won’t even get in to the first time I kept Chloe by myself and she had a bowel movement that made the Guinness Book of World Records.  The whole time I was changing her diaper and trying not to pass out, she was laughing hysterically.  Now Chloe is 12 years old and very much a “tween”.  Normally we both hang out in my man cave which she now calls the “Chill Room” because “we be chillin’ together”.  This past weekend my wife and I let her have a friend over for the night.  It is one thing for two old people to have a 12 year old in their home for the weekend.  It is another thing to have two 12 year olds in the house.  About 3:45 AM on Sunday morning I had to go downstairs and suggest it might be time to go to bed.  I was still tired from a trip to the movies to see “Ghostbusters” followed by a trip to the Mall to shop at a store called “Hot Topic”.  This is a store frequented by a wide assortment of young and not so young freaky people.  I was happy when I heard my granddaughter tell her friend that I was cool because “I was one of them”.  In other words, I am “alternative” and not your run of the mill Paw Paw.  Occasionally I miss the little girl who made me sit on the floor for tea parties.  However, she has become this wonderful, cool kid who amazes me with her perception and humor.  This weekend I am taking her to outer space so we can hang out with Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock in the new Star Trek movie.