As I was looking at pictures, I realized that for the first time I saw something very similar in each photo. In fact, so much that I put them together in a photo to make sure that I was seeing what I thought I was seeing!

The top picture is of myself and one of my son’s children. He has three children, and I love them each the same and with all of my heart. The bottom picture is of my mother and one of my son’s children as well.

As parents, we put a huge responsibility on ourselves to provide, protect and love our children the very best we can. We love them to the moon and back. As grandparents, we still share a responsibility for them, but a different kind. We still watch our children raise their own and often give unappreciated advice at unwanted times! Yet, we still love and protect them as if they were our own.

I don’t know how to describe the feeling that I saw in my mom as she was playing with her great grandson. At the time, I knew that she had the greatest joy in her heart. In fact, I believe that was the happiest I ever saw my mom was with her grandchildren. I wasn’t quite sure what that was all about until I aged myself and have seen the wonders through my own grandchildren’s eyes.

THAT was when I realized that I had the same sparkle in my eyes as were in hers in that photo. I realized that we were looking into the eyes of trust and innocence. Love and youth beyond imagination filled both of our hearts. It made us look and feel young, even though for just a brief time. We wanted to watch them grow, wishing we could be there forever with them.

As grandparents, we give ourselves permission to love and take advantage of what grandparenting really is. Of course, getting away with things we would have never done with our own children is just the start! And of course, always giving them back to mom and dad is an automatic gesture that we do. However, I believe that looking through my own eyes as a grandparent is truly a gift that no one can begin to explain until you experience it for yourself.