Down the Rabbit Hole

Jaden and her Gramma Boop

There are few things in this world that I am more thankful for than the fact that my Gramma is here and able to share in my daughter's life. I believe that the experience of having a little girl was made all the more wonderful because my Gramma was able to enjoy it with us. She desperately wanted me to have a little girl. I think she must have dreamed of my blue-eyed baby girl as much as I did in the months before Jaden was born. She was convinced she would have my eyes, despite our insistence that it was a genetic improbability. But, as if made by Gramma Boop's very order, Jaden was born with eyes that are more blue than my own. Her's are bright pools rimmed in indigo, made even more prominent by her darker skin. I know that Gramma Boop prayed for me to have a healthy, happy, blue-eyed baby girl and God delivered on all fronts.

Today I was upstairs getting ready for work. Jaden was downstairs with Gramma Boop, having been thrilled to find her still there when she woke up this morning. I listened to them together; Gramma Boop's singsong fairy godmother voice and Jaden's giggles, interrupted by little pauses that I knew were filled with special hugs and kisses. I came downstairs to find them snuggled side by side on the couch, my daughter leaning into my grandmother, one of her arms stretched up with her fingers gently resting on her grandmother's soft cheek. When I first found out I was carrying a baby girl, I knew they would share a special connection. It was a great love forged before my daughter took her first breath outside my body. My grandmother showers Jaden with attention, with affection and love, as she does all her grandchildren. She is already trying to teach her the "Have You Seen my New Shoes?" song, the same tune we all learned to memorize and perform for her. I can see that same devotion and desire to please on my daughter's face. I know soon she will be dancing and singing along, delighting her Gramma Boop to no end. I am so grateful for the incredible gift of life that brought my two favorite people in the world together to love and cherish one another.