The Symbol of a Grandma's Love

You probably expected to see a heart, right? Shouldn't the symbol of grandmotherly love be saturated with tones of red and gold to portray its deep and enduring nature?

Obviously the symbol you see here is not blood red, is not in the shape of a heart, and is not anything you've ever seen before. It is, however, an accurate depiction of the sacrifices a grandmother makes for her grandchildren. And it probably requires an explanation.

So why does this symbol appear to be made only of sepia? Because for me sepia represents age. Grandchildren tend to think of even their fabulously young looking grandparents as old, so sepia works well to represent the idea of age. Also I believe a grandmother's love endures through the ages, so sepia it is.

Before I explain the symbolism behind the symbol, I want you to know that the symbol of grandmotherly love could easily work for grandfathers, dads, and moms, but since I created it, I am calling it, The Symbol of a Grandma's Love.

I came up with this particular symbol as a result of what happened to me the other night. Two of my grandchildren, my son's sons (Kaden and Zac), spent the night with me and slept with me in my bed.

After tossing and turning (all of us), Kaden, 5, and Zac, 2 and a half, soon ended up on top of me and perpendicular to me – I'm sure in an attempt to guarantee that I wasn't going to slide out from beneath them and leave them alone in my bedroom.

After having given this matter some serious consideration, I have reasoned that I can understand their perpendicularity in relation to their mom, because other than going back inside her to be as close as possible to her, thereby replicating the time before they were born, they chose lying directly on top of her, spread out across her body. They are particularly close to my son (their dad), too, so I'm sure the kids are spread out across the two of them at various times throughout the night.

Sleeping across both parents insures my grandchildren that if their parents leave the bed, they can grab Mommy and Daddy and let know that THEY know they are about to be abandoned in the family bed.

But why Grandma? As a sufferer from insomnia, it took me several hours to finally fall asleep. All through the night, I removed feet and legs from my body, put them in a position that was comfortable for me, and attempted to fall sleep. By 3 a.m. (that was the last time I remember looking at the clock) I was finally sleeping comfortably until the feet and legs found their way back to my body at approximately 3:15.

Every time I moved the feet and legs throughout the night, in fact, they returned to their previous position – spread out across my body.

At 3:15 I slipped out of bed, grabbed my pillows and a blanket and collapsed on the couch. Within a couple of minutes I was finally sleeping soundly.

At 3:30 Kaden found me and climbed onto the couch to sleep with me. Telling me he was scared to lie on the edge of the couch, he climbed over me to sleep behind me so that he was positioned between me and the couch back. Afraid I was going to crush him, I waited for him to fall asleep so that I could return to the bed where I found Zac spread eagle across the whole bed.

I could only imagine that while Zac slept, he reached out with his feet to find me and fell asleep before his feet found their desired resting place.

So there you have it – the symbol of a grandma's love is one of her sacrificing sleep so her grandchildren will feel safe and warm. The symbol is one of a loving grandmother succumbing to the charms of her grandchildren.

Don't think I'm too much of a saint, though, because I'm already thinking that if I make a body pillow shaped exactly like myself, I might be able, the next time they spend the night,  to switch myself with the pillow they never saw and convince them that the pillow they're sleeping with is actually me. The trick will be figuring out how to create a pillow with a body temperature that matches mine and dressing the pillow in the same material as what I'm wearing when I go to bed.

I'm going to have to leave this blog now as I search for material that feels similar to skin in case they reach over to touch my face. I may not have to worry about that though, because I've heard that my skin may end up feeling like leather. Maybe I should just hold out until then.