Ruth and I love being grandparents to our two grandchildren, Brady and Eva. While we love them, and enjoy being with them, becoming grandparents was a challenge for both of us. We really weren’t ready to become grandparents.
The issue was not associated with life’s role of being grandparents, but rather with the thought that we both looked upon our own grandparents as being OLD. We weren’t ready to be there. We didn’t view ourselves as being OLD, but the thought of being grandparents brought OLD age into our lives and we weren’t ready for its arrival.
Don’t get me wrong. We loved our grandparents. I was lucky enough to have mine in my life for several years, but in my mind, they were always OLD. I wasn’t prepared to get there yet.
Ruth and I discussed this on several occasions and decided if we weren’t called Grandma and Grandpa that might help with the transition. Ruth explored a number of names. They were all very clever and interesting. None of them made her sound OLD. Most of our “name discussions” were lengthy and took place while driving in the car. She settled on Nana and that has worked well for her. Our two grandchildren refer to her as Nanee upon occasion, but that’s just a nickname.
My choice was more difficult to determine. There just weren’t a lot of options to explore. Brady and Eva’s maternal grandfather, Larry, was going to be called Papa so that eliminated that option right from the start. I couldn’t see confusing the kids with two Papas. My own grandfather was called Poppy, but he smoked a pipe, and I surmised the name came from his pipe smoking days. Being a non-smoker – and accepting the fact smoking pipes were never going to be how I rolled – Poppy was not an option.
One day I jokingly suggested I be known as The Great One. Ruth picked up on that and suggested the name TGO. That was the birth of my new name. I decided I would tell my grandchildren that TGO was my Indian name and that TGO was short for – The Great One. I, too, have been nicknamed by the grandkids, and I’m happy being referred to as TeGee when they’re feeling frisky.
Nana and TGO love being grandparents. We hope all people, as they transition through life’s journey, are as blessed as we are by having Brady and Eva in our lives. We are very happy we are able to be active grandparents. While we may be getting older, we don’t feel OLD.