A few weeks ago my father dreamed he was walking up a hill and holding a little girl’s hand. This morning, my sister announced she is having a baby girl. I spoke to my father, congratulating him on being a grandfather. “I knew all along, before everyone else, that I would have a granddaughter,” he said proudly. Then he said something that I will never forget,”They are born, then they grow up, and then eventually have their own homes.”
And I thought of all the times he has had to say goodbye to his children, how many times he has had to pretend he is okay with all of our decisions, with how we’ve changed, with how we’ve grown up and no longer his little children.