On 26^th July, 2012 my granddaughter Chloe invited me to her school, Stella Maris Catholic Primary School Maroochydore Qld, to be with her for Grandparents Day.

So what do you think I said? “Yes of course.” She was a little hesitant as I am not the typical grandma package. I asked her if I needed to bring my diary and laptop and if I could bring my pool cue for show and tell. We both laughed our heads off. Well it is a bit different to knitting needles don’t you think?

Well I was so excited I could bust. My vision of Grandparents Day was morning tea with her teacher and class mates. Oh how wrong I was. It was a full catholic gathering in the school hall with singing and a service.

Well the service began and to start off the mood the priest asked if we could find the youngest grandparent to attend this day. I immediately start to shake.

“Can anyone under the age of 30 please stand.” Nobody stood. “Can anyone under the age of 40 stand.” Nobody stood. “Can anyone under the age of 50 stand.” 2 of us stood up. He then asked the lady in front of me, “So who is your grandchild and what year are they in?” She said, “Year 1.”

He then looks at me and says, “So who is your grandchild and what year are they in?”

I say, “Chloe Wheatland and she is in year 7.”

He says “Year 1?”

I say, “No year 7.”

I did hear some silent chuckles. I could see everyone around me trying to do the math. Well after all I am sitting in a catholic church so having children young would be acceptable you would think. Well he said that I would have to be the youngest grandparent there and thanked me for coming and I sat down. Lucky for me he then proceeded to ask who was the eldest grandparent and that was an 82 year old great-grand parent, how cool is that.

The service went well and I was so proud to be there for Chloe. The morning was so funny, her little friends kept coming up and staring at me and would say to Chloe “Is that your Nanna?” and Chloe spent most of the morning giggling as her friends wanted to hang around this ‘YOUNG NANNA’ – I’m loving it. Chloe looked at me and said “Well this is awkward!” I asked why? She said, “You look too young to be my Nanna.” I just turned to her and said “Well doesn’t everyone say to you that you have a young mum?”

She said, “Yes.”

“Well it makes good sense that I would be a young Nanna then wouldn’t it?” She laughed and agreed.

Truly I felt like the Pied Piper with the trail of kids walking behind us checking me out. Some of them asked me if I was really her Grandma. I was one of the proudest grandparents there that day. I have missed many Grandparent Days while Chloe lived in Dubbo so I was very happy to spend her last with her as next year she will be a big girl in high school.

I was presented with a calender and a poem which reads:-

To our Beautiful Grandparents, Always know…..

You are loved,

You are very special,

And you are,

Thought about everyday.

Thank you for being

In our lives.

            On the side of my Calender it reads: Blessed are those who… snuggle and hug, spoil and pamper, boast and brag… For they shall be called… GRANDPARENTS!

You can be sure I do all the above.

Thank you Lord for bringing Natasha in my life early enough so that I may enjoy the precious experience of being Nanny Viv because I REALLY AM YOU KNOW.

Love to Love.