I'm skipping forward a bit in the story, but when I popped in to see my Mum and Dad today and saw the above picture up on the mantel piece with all the other family pics, I wanted to write about it.
I've heard that the fight for who is going to be Gran and who is going to be Nanna in some families when Grandkids come along can get nasty.
I always knew that my Mum would be Gran and my Husband's Mum would be Nanna, just because that is what both of their Mums were to their kids. Woohoo! One less thing to deal with.
For us, this is a bit of a non-issue right now. We don't have kids in the plan right now, or on the horizon, and are taking the football player stance and using the phrase "one week at a time" when it comes to us having kids. Not that this stops people from continuing to ask, hound, badger, bribe.
As you would know by now our replacement kiddies are our dogs. We hug them, and pet them, and ... sorry, Warner Brothers flashback.
My Mum loves dogs, so has no issue at all in being referred to as Gran to our dogs. Non-dog owners may be thinking I'm a little whacko right now, "why would dogs care what they call her?", but the dog owners would know that dogs respond to verbal commands. Say "walk" around our dogs and remove ANYTHING valuable from the vicinity. Spell out "W.A.L.K", still remove all breakables (damn Kelpie can spell) and finally if you say "Want to go and see Gran?" there is chaos.
"Gran" means something important to our dogs. It means they are going in the car with heads hanging out the window, to my parents house where they will be fed left overs, get as many hugs as they can handle, get to sit on the couch for cuddles with Gran and get to play with their blind and deaf 15 year old Maltese/Schitzu friend Scruffy.
Scruff was my Gran's dog. Scruff was what she lived for. My Mum took him in when she was moved to a hostel. Even on a bad dementia day, Scruffy was never forgotten. My Gran was great.Looking at this photo you may be surprised that the pecking order of these three goes:
1. Scruffy - Ruler and Supreme Commander (even if he does walk into poles)
2. Jack - Mediator. He lived with Scruffy for a year so he understands his small dog issues.
3. Ralph - General Scaredy Cat
When Scruffy visits our house, Ralph sleeps on the decking while Scruffy gathers all three dog beds and sleeps on top of them. For a dog that was castrated a long time ago, he sure has balls.
Anyway, where was I?
That's right!
So it's excitement all round when our family goes and visits my Mum, a.k.a Gran.
For Mum's birthday every year she gets something from Jack and Ralph. Last year, it was the Happy Birthday photo above. And yes, they did move at the last minute so the message was a little mixed up, but it made it even more them. She loved it.
My Mum was admitted for surgery last year for suspected bowel cancer (all clear!). When she woke up I made sure that the photo at the top of this entry was sitting on the dresser. It made her smile.
The nurses were enquiring about Grandkids, so she showed them the picture. It cracked the nurses up.
So, thanks Mum for loving our little furry kids.
And Dad, man who refuses to be called Grandpa to dogs, we know you love them too. :)
And we know that if the dogs disappear, it's probably Uncle Clint that has them in his truck.
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