Anyone who sees my office knows instantly that I am a proud grandfather. I have at least twenty-five huge pictures of my granddaughters on every wall. I also have some small ones to fill in space. You might think that I have been waiting my whole life to become a grandfather, but that is not exactly true. Here is how it happened.

I came home from work one day and my wife and Sheri my daughter-in-law were working at the computer. They asked me for help and when we finished we sat back to look at what we had done and Sheri said 'guess what?'  I knew instantly that she wasn't talking about the work. My wife and I looked at her and my wife said "really". She nodded her head and my wife screamed "YOU'RE PREGNANT". Sheri very quietly said "yes". I asked her what everyone else had said when she told them and she said "you are the first ones to know".

This all changed on the morning of September 19, 2001. My son called around 3:30 AM as I was getting ready to go to work to say he was on his way to the hospital. We went immediately and the other future grandparents arrived soon after. Sitting in the waiting room it still did not hit me until my son walked out, looked at us and instantly burst into tears and said "I have a daughter". I immediately felt like a grandfather and like that was something I was always meant to be.

I now have two granddaughters and a grandson who was just born on October twelfth. It has been an amazing experience watching the girls grow. I have two sons and I wasn't sure I would get the whole girl thing. Except for lots of shoes and changing clothes two to three times every time they visit, the rest is the same.

 My granddaughters are five and three now and they love to play hide and seek except they play it a little differently. I have a tight nit cloth hammock that is not see-through. The girls climb inside and since they are so small the top closes like a pea pod.

One day I saw them hiding in there and started calling, has anyone seen the girls. They laughed like crazy. Since then hide and seek is the girls in the hammock, like they have become invisible, and I look all over for them while they laugh. Just to tease me they will stick their leg out so I can see it and then pull it back so I will ask where they went.

The holidays are always great, especially Christmas because they are so excited. The girls go to a Christian school where they each have individual Christmas programs.  They get excited about celebrating the birthday of baby Jesus. They are also excited because their cousins live in Brussels and every other year they go to Europe or their cousins come here. This year their cousins came here.  

On Christmas day I am a little kid again. I love to play with the girls and all of their new toys. I have the excitement of finding out what they got for Christmas. With my sons, Santa would always tip me off about what they were getting so the surprise wasn’t there. I get lost in the girls world, playing with them and their toys, and I forget I’m grown up.  I have a good old fashion kids Christmas.

I love to have them around me and I am grateful that my son and daughter-in-law bring them over all the time. We see them at least once every week.  Sometimes they are visiting when I get home from work. There is no better feeling than two little girls running to you screaming pop pop, pop pop, pop pop.

I have also discovered that being a grandparent does not make you old, actually quite the opposite, playing and keeping up with grandchildren makes you younger.