Grandma, stay away

Today was a normal day, mostly. Penny had her first story hour at the library. I was too cute to watch Carolyn "show her the ropes" during the session. "C'mon Penny. Stand up," she'd say as it was time to sing the opening song. They practically sat in the same chair.

Penny liked it, but I almost think Carolyn liked the fact that Penny was there even more.

After the class, I talked to this grandma I sort of know (her granddaughter, Jenna, is in Carolyn's preschool class) for about an hour. She had four kids in five years. One lives in town — the one with the most kids — so she has day-to-day contact with her grandkids. Another of her kids lives in Chicago. A third, the only childless one, lives in Boston. The last, with two small children, lives in Paris.

Unbelievable. You couldn't create a more perfect child/grandkid situation if you outlined the whole thing out on paper. So I was quizzing her extensively about her three week trip to Paris earlier this year and just having a lovely time.

Then later, I got horrible news. The grandma I bonded with (what's up with me and grandmas?) at Carolyn's swimming class just up and died about a month ago. She was really my first friend in Normal and we sat and chatted every week, twice a week, while Carolyn and her grandson, Gabe, learned to swim.

It was a total shocker because she would watch all her grandkids. In the summer, she watched about six or seven at a time. She was super active and spunky. I just feel really bad about the whole thing.

What a bummer of a blog....