This past October, I had the pleasure of meeting my grandchild for the first time. From his or her first official photo, my grandchild was staring back at me. Of course, my grandchild was in utero and I was accompanying my daughter-in-law to her obstetrician. The blessed event is due sometime in early April. So our son and his wife will be first-time parents and we will be first-time grandparents! The thought is daunting, to say the least!
Becoming a grandparent is one more of life’s events that makes us aware of our age and where we are on the continuum of life. Like it or not, it moves us along and makes us realize that we are advancing on life’s journey. It is a sobering reminder that my husband and I are now a part of the older surviving generation in our family tree.
When I think of this new baby Milcetic that will come into our lives, I cannot help fantasizing about the looks of this little one. Whom will he or she resemble? Will the baby have my father’s chin, my mother’s nose, my eyes? In this child I will see my family history carried through and the same is true for my husband. My grandma and mom used to call my children “sangu di mo sangu” in the Sicilian dialect, which means “blood of my blood,” and that is how I find myself thinking of this child.
Tears are falling down my cheeks as I write, which is often the case when I begin to talk about this new baby. I wonder if my husband and I will be here long enough to see this child grow tall and strong. I know no one can predict, but still these thoughts fill my head. In any case, as I said before, I see my history and my husband’s history carried forward in this child and in those who may come into our family at a later time.
Our grandchildren will carry our genetic threads forward, beyond my husband and me, beyond our time. This child will be life, past, present and future, all rolled into one tiny person that will weigh only about 6, 7 or 8 pounds and we and everyone in our family wait patiently for this special gift to arrive!
Rose Marie Milcetic
Whitestone
