Being a Mom Again

Jolly Auntie dotes over Nicole and Kevin - -
Abe Pachikara, Copyright 2005 (click to enlarge image)

In general, I think it takes a hell of a lot more to go from an easy job to a hard job, than vice versa. Or maybe more accurately, from a role with fewer hassles to one with a lot more hassles. This is akin to north/south versus south/north migration: most (former) die-hard Canadians will tell you that it is easier to move from a cold place, like Ottawa, Canada, to a warm place like Atlanta, in the U.S. of A., than to move northward.

A second, complementary point is that being a grandmom must be great fun - - no more do you need to pour your energies into day-to-day tasks as you did a long time ago when you were a mom (washing, feeding, bathing, diapers, more diapers, disciplining, etc.)… now you get to dote over the grandkids, and take your best shot at spoiling them 10 different ways.

Now my Aunt Jolly has come full circle, as her son Russell and daughter-in-law Ligi will be in Toronto (as in Canada) for perhaps another year studying for their pharmacy certification. So Jollyauntie has stepped up and taken the role of “mom” again, and immersed herself in the tasks that come with this territory. You can see it is hard (any parent will grimace as s/he remembers the exhausting years when the kids were in that 1 to 4 year old range). Luckily for Russell and Ligi (and frankly for Nicole and Kevin too) Jollyauntie is one of those folks with a real verve, and this propels her through the each day with gusto and passion. It is one of those “2nd tours of duty,” one she enthusiastically embraces.