Today is my first grandchild's 10th birthday. It is also my 10th year as a breast cancer survivor.
Ten years and eight months earlier, my daughter gave me a gift to open and it was a bib that said I(heart) Grandmother. That was a sweet way to find out. Then she asked, "What do you want the baby to call you?" My first reaction was "Charlotte will be fine." It's tough to become a grandmother at 46. That just doesn't seem anywhere near my grandmothers' ages. The frown on her face told me to try again. I came up with "Grammy" for no particular reason, I didn't call either of my grandmothers that. So with the 2 grandsons, my chosen name has gone through the normal speech development pattern from Mammy, Bammy, Gammy to finally Grammy. Though Connor at 4 is still saying Gammy.
The doctor scheduled the baby's delivery for March 19th. Bridget was admitted and labor was induced. As it all too often happens, when baby's arrival is scheduled for the convenience, the baby went into distress and a C-Section was "necessary."
Well, my first round of chemo was also scheduled for 3 pm that afternoon. So by 2 pm I was anxiously waiting for my first grandson's arrival before I had to depart for chemo. I got to see my bald, ghostly white grandson about 2:30 and then went off to have drug induced baldness for myself. We joke that I shaved my head that night, so Chase wouldn't feel funny being the only person in the family without hair.
It is a wonderful day 10 years later that we both celebrate life and do it with a full head of hair!
