Number One

Before I begin, it should be known that I thought a long time about the title of this blog. It's too long, yes, but somehow I had to convey what this blog is about just from the title alone. It has a purpose and the title must reflect that purpose. It's also only fitting that I should make its inaugural post on the birthday of Number One, Kobe Roberts, my first grandchild, who arrived when I was only 32.

Kobe, at Texarkana Comic-Con, 2014

Yes, that's right. 32. Odd that I became a grandmother when I have never actually given birth to children. The ones I helped raise were, at that time, either finishing high school or were midway through elementary school. It's hard to explain that briefly, so...hence this blog. There will be many explanations of this phenomenon, plus a lot of other stories and anecdotes and rants and who knows what else.

How did I become a Gigi? At least literally? When Kobe was about...3 (or so?? I just remember him being rather tall even then, and there were other kids there, because after he was born, all these others starting turning up)...I was sitting on the couch in my mother-in-law's living room, and she was talking to Kobe, pointing to different people in the room, asking, "Who's that?" When she got to me, he said, "Gigi!" And well, that was that.

There are now eleven children, ranging in age from 2 to 14, who refer to me as such. And I have been "Gigi" even longer than I was just "Mom." Only 5 individuals have the option to call me "Mom," even though this wasn't something anyone insisted upon. It was entirely up to them. This is another story for later. I'll tackle my views on motherhood some other time.

8 of the Younglings, with their Poppa Don, 2013

Trey, doing his Captain Kirk impression, 2013

        


Here's the thing: These eleven "Younglings" are my legacy. Hopefully, like myself, they will wonder what their grandparents were like before they were grandparents. My grandparents are gone and I still wish I had known them even longer. They didn't really keep journals, or even take that many pictures. They certainly didn't have social media to record their every waking moment.

Gabriel, December 2014

So this is where the Internet can be our friend, versus the bane of our existence. It's where I can keep a ready-made "memoir" of sorts, should one of the Younglings become interested in what someone who will eventually be an old lady had to say about..."stuff." I'll tell some stories, not just about me, but other family and friends and pets and their adventures. I'll post some pictures of places we've been and things we've done, and those will of course include travels and events that they were present at as well.

Luke, getting ready to rock climb, 2014 

So this blog is for them. They can read some of it now, or read it later when they're all grown up when it might be slightly more interesting to them. This is for other people, too. All are welcome. 

And this is kinda for me, too. Because part of me still wants to be a famous writer, since I did the rock star thing already.

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!