I was lucky enough to have a pretty great, traditional family growing up. I'm the youngest of 4 children in my own family and had a large network of aunts and uncles, and LOTS of cousins. Each and every Sunday night, we'd load up in the mini-van and go to my grandparent's house that was about 30 minutes away. My Grandma and Grandpa Doherty, my mother's parents, were the typical grandparents. Spoiled my siblings and I with all kinds of things and never missed a game or school event. My grandmother was an avid baker and excellent cook and I remember so many days spent at her house with her in the kitchen. We made the typical things like chocolate chip cookies and cakes, but she was the BEST pie maker. Her Lemon Meringue Pie was my absolute favorite and she made it every year for my birthday. One of my last memories of her was the day she started to teach me how to make Meringue.
Spending time with grandparents seemed to be a pretty common thing amongst me and my friends. They, too, spent a lot of time with their grandparents. In a small, Kansas town (along with many others!) family was at the center of everyone's life. I hate to admit to this, but I don't think I fully understood the depth of my relationship with my grandparents until many years later. Even more so, I don't think I understood how important that relationship was until I had my own children. The relationship children have with their grandparents is so special for a variety of reasons.
Older generations have so much knowledge and wisdom about anything and everything. Not only that, but the level of freedom is so much different. And I'm not talking about the way that "You're at grandma's and can eat as much candy as you want" kind of way. But rather the expectation is to relax, have fun, and simply spend time together. As a mom now, I always feel like there is SO much to do, all the time. I need a break from things, but I know that they do too.
We're lucky to have some very involved grandparents in our children's lives right now. They spend a lot of time on the farm with my husbands' parents. They often stop by to drop off some milk during the week, or just to see how school is going. We also see my mom several times throughout the month, but not near as often as I would life. My dad passed away before our second child was born and that has been really difficult for me. He was such an amazing grandpa with our oldest daughter those first two years and I so wish he was still here to watch the others grow. I don't think I understood that bond between grandchildren and grandparents until I saw my daughter's disappear with my dad when he died.
It may have seemed silly to me at the time, but looking back on it now-I truly cherish those moments that I had with my own grandparents growing up. One of my very favorite things to do is cook and bake, especially with my kids! I know that is huge impart because of my grandmother and getting me involved in the kitchen. I have worked so hard on continuing her recipes throughout the years. Recently, I was finally able to make the best pie crust and decided to tackle the infamous Lemon Meringue Pie. While my pies may taste and look pretty good, they will never match up to the ones my Grandmother made for me. Her love will always be that missing ingredient :)
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