Ways Our Grandchildren Delight Us

~~ Vonnie Davis

I think most of us grandmas have little traditions we do with the grandkids, no matter their ages. When distance is involved, we have to be more creative. My one granddaughter and I watch the Miss America Pageant together. She lives in Ohio and I'm in southern Virginia. We text during the event, something we've been doing for years.

My two grown grandsons go to see the latest Bourne movie on the same day as Calvin and I. They're in Indiana. We text about the film afterward. As soon as the movie is available on Blue Ray, Amazon makes a delivery to each of their houses with a copy from Grandma. We do the same thing with James Bond, too. Whenever they come to visit, we do a Bond marathon complete with too many snacks as we repeat the cheezy lines we know by heart.

The Super Bowl has my other grandson (I have four) and me betting and texting and teasing. Whatever team he's for, I'm for the other side whether I truly am, or not. I mean, how else can I get him all riled up? He's in northern Maryland.

Books have been a large part of our tradition, too. When Josh was in Afghanistan, he asked for books of poetry about nature--something he could mentally sink into like Robert Frost and Walt Whitman.

My youngest granddaughter goes to the Maryland School for the Arts. She'll ask for books on music theory.

When Ryan was a toddler, he spent many weekends with me. I began to collect Disney videos. The first was "Bambi." He scrambled off my lap and ran to his drawer in the kitchen where his toys and books were kept, returning with his "Bambi" Golden Book. He followed along with the video on his little book. He was only 14 months old then. It didn't take me long to realize with every video I bought for his enjoyment, I'd have to buy a matching book.

Ryan's a freshman at MIT now. He was chosen to work on an internship with the Bossman Group, doing research on the Mars 2020 Land Rover. He explained what he'd be doing, but I don't speak math or Greek or chemical chit-chat. I just nod with all the grandmotherly wisdom I can fake. He's majoring in Solid Material Engineering with a double minor in Energy Storage and Environmental Science. Ryan's favorite book? I think I've mentioned before it's "The Universe and Dr. Einstein."

He relaxes from a heavy school load by wrestling, a sport he loves. MIT's wrestling squad is flying to Lynchburg this weekend, where we live, to wrestle in an Eastern Collegiate Tournament with 20 other colleges. We'll get to see him and I can't wait. Here's a short video of him at his last match. He's the one with no socks and writing on his singlet, or uniform. And what is that squibbling? Hey, it's MIT...they're math equations.

What traditions do you have with your grandchildren or children?

For more information about me, the writer and not the grandma, visit my website at www.vonniedavis.com.