"Fat to Fittie"

I’ve previously discussed mental health and how important it is with regards to you’re well being, it works hand in hand with the physical side and anything you can do to improve it is a good thing. Nothing is as beneficial in adding to a happy feeling as being a grandparent and If you’re lucky enough to be one, then you know exactly what I’m talking about and what a precious gift it is. Bringing up your own children can be a whirlwind of juggling work, money, family time and it’s difficult to enjoy their childhood to the full. With Grandkids, you get the chance to do it all again, but this time sit back and cherish the moment, without any of the headache that comes with full time parenting. So far I have two granddaughters, with a third on the way, which as a scan has just confirmed, will be another girl. It would be remiss of me not to mention the little girl we lost last year before she had a chance and while the upcoming miracle is not seen as a replacement, she will be a very welcome easing of the pain suffered by all the family.

This is supposed to be a feel good blog, so I’m not going to be too negative, but sadly I don’t see quite as much of either of my granddaughters as I’d like, I guess that’s down to the fact that the mothers family gets more of the time, spoke to a few friends about it and that seems to be the way it is. I’m also a single guy, there’s no female presence, so I presume that most mothers like to think there’s another female around should anything go wrong. I experienced this quite a lot when I was a single parent with my two sons, many people thinking that a guy shouldn’t be bringing up children, believe me, I was a lot better choice than the alternative. I was a bit daunted, opening up the wardrobe for the first time, looking at row’s of clothes, thinking f**k, my boys were quite young, just three and 20 months and all of our worlds changed very quickly. I like to think that they weren’t really effected, took me about 6 months before I’d got into a routine and I won’t pretend there weren’t many difficult moments, but for most of the time, I handled it very well. I’m so grateful for the experience I had before starting school, because once they do, you lose part of them, others are now helping influence their lives.

I guess for a lot of grandparents, who didn’t have this with their own, being around these new little ones, can be even more rewarding, especially for the men, who simply didn’t get the chance for whatever reasons. The youngest of my grandchildren is getting close to two, while the elder is eight and a half, very important when that age to mention the half. I’ve not yet had any time alone with the youngest, I’m sure it’ll come at some point, but me and the older girl, have done many things together. It’s hugely rewarding to watch them grow and become their own little person, nothing cheers me up more than when a memory showing something we did, pop’s up on Facebook. Just recently we both visited a nearby attraction and I explained to her that I was going to film some of it, because I needed practise editing videos together. In a strange way this made the day even better, she loved being involved and actually recorded some of the segments on her own, in the end, we had a great memory of our day out. Last year she also asked if she could do a podcast with me, it was just as I was starting to have some guests, so agreed, didn’t think I would keep it on my feed but she was great, bit of a natural. Why not have a listen, it’s on the podcast page and called “Amazing Grace”, if you’re not yet a grandparent, this will make you wish you were. I’ll end by adding how important to me they are, I have a bucket list, many of the thing’s on it are walks. The shortest of them is only two and a half miles long and is the ancient medieval walls around my city, a route I’ve walked many times for leisure and work as a tour guide, but never with my grandchildren and that’s why it’s first on the list.