Becoming a Bubbie

...it rocks!

I sit and watch the boundless joy on their faces when my friends excitedly share pictures and videos of all the cute things their grandchildren are saying and doing.  My happiness for them is unfeigned. Then I ponder the thought… am I destined to have that opportunity someday?  I try very hard not to be “that” parent – the one who constantly barrages their offspring with continuous questions about procreating.  It is such an intensely personal decision, after all. 

So, when a Goodreads email landed in my inbox a couple of years ago, stating that my son was reading “Expecting better: why the conventional pregnancy wisdom is wrong and what you really need to know,” my heart skipped a couple of beats.  I could stay silent no longer.  He responded that he was reading it but not to “expect” anything soon.  I tried to tame the fluttering in my heart and filed the information away in the back of my brain. I said silent prayers that their wishes would come to fruition.

Fast forward to a phone call last June, on my anniversary of all days - where I heard those special words “we’re pregnant.”  The bursting in my heart leapt immediately to my tear ducts. My baby was going to have a baby!  WOW!  I shared the news with immediate family only, since it was still pretty early in the pregnancy. Apparently, I am superstitious or maybe it is just that I am a worrier. I waited until the three-month mark to start spreading the news. Then, I allowed myself the luxury of stopping in every baby store I passed and began looking at all the clothes. I still resisted buying anything just yet.

Suddenly it all became clear why I had decided to take up knitting. Visions of cute little booties popped into my head.  I have always been fascinated with baby shoes and socks. Those tiny little feet are just magical. I located an easy pattern for booties and set to work. Once completed, I realized that these booties were going to be way too big for an infant. It could be April or May before these booties fit – and by then the “winter” season in Texas would be long gone, rendering them pretty much useless.

In the middle of my knitting concerns came a sonogram picture with the caption stating that my son’s partner was “cooking up some mini-Molls”.  Molls?  Not Moll, but Molls?  Did I read that correctly?  Indeed, I did.  There it was -plain as could be – Twin A and Twin B.  Twins!  I found myself repeatedly saying OMG!  Here I had been wondering if I would ever be a grandma – and now I was going to be a grandma to two grandkids.  WOW!  How lucky could I be? OMG! 

Life is certainly full of surprises!  The next one was that the babies are monozygotic – meaning identical twins! So, all we know now is they will either be two boys or two girls.

As the idea of twins started to sink in, which I’m sure was quicker for me than for the parents-to-be, I headed back to the knitting drawing board. Hey… every baby needs a blanket, right?  I found colour coordinated yarn (green for Clover and purple for Aster) and set to work again.  After much trial and error, and continued encouragement from David, I finally found a pattern I could complete.  This project kept me busy for quite some time.  I tried to imagine what the babies would look like wrapped up in their Bubbie blankets, but nothing came close to the real picture.

Prior to the actual news of having grandkids, I never let myself wander into the “what name would I want to go by” question. Once it became concrete – I reveled in the possibilities.  As a child, I had simply called my grandparents Grandma and Grandpa, but now I could get creative. People use all sorts of names these days. I asked around to see what others were using. It did not take long to settle on the Yiddish version of grandma – Bubbie, or Bubbie Stephanie.

Why Yiddish you may be wondering?  Naturally I know many popular Yiddish words and sayings, but I have no real strong ties to the use of the Yiddish language. I was intrigued to learn that Yiddish has long had a home in Montreal. In fact, for the first half of the twentieth century, Yiddish was the third most spoken language in the city, playing a prominent role in Quebec, among the use of English and French. There was a very successful Yiddish newspaper from 1907 – 1977. Today there are still Yiddish plays being performed in Montreal (I even know one of those performers personally!). I thought that perhaps using the name Bubbie would be a small way of helping perpetuate the use of Yiddish, even though UNESCO has put it on the endangered languages list. 

David is going by Zayde Fleagle. (Zayde being Yiddish for grandfather).  Fleagle meaning?  I have no clue - you will have to ask him for the reasoning behind that choice. 

November included a trip to Texas for a baby shower.  David and I were thrilled to be involved with the preparations for such a simcha (joyous event).  We watched in awe as our son’s partner handled the pregnancy with grace.  We even got to feel their belly when the babies were kicking and moving about.  It has been a really long time since I have done that!  

Being flexible is a handy trait!  Especially when so many things are out of your control.  When the next phone call came to say that the babies were on their way, about five weeks premature, David and I were ready to head back to Texas in a moment’s notice.

I cannot even remember when I last held a one-week-old baby.  I don’t have to repeat what everyone says (but I will anyway) - that you can only imagine how it feels to cradle a brand-new bundle of joy that is your grandchild.  The emotions are so immense – we spent hours just watching them.  Equally as priceless was watching my son and his partner navigate their way into parenthood, so calm and collected and overflowing with love and tenderness.  It brings a lump to my throat and tears to my eyes just thinking about it.   We were so incredibly lucky to be able to see them everyday and be a part of their first few weeks of life. Three weeks flew by and now I am back in Montreal.  Although I love sleeping in my own bed and petting my kitties, I am already planning my next visit. I am thrilled to be a part of this new club of grandparents and I am so looking forward to all the adventures to come.  

Meanwhile, I apologize in advance to friends who are now subjected to my sharing of pictures and videos. I do try to keep it to a minimum but, dang it – that is much easier said than done!