Becoming Grandma at 37

It's natural when children get older to start thinking about your own future. That is your future without small creatures running around and generally causing chaos. For me, finishing college, traveling with my husband, and enjoying an empty, quiet nest was in the foreseeable future.

Did anyone else dream of a future without your children? Or am I the only parent who looked forward to an empty nest?

Either way, I soon learned the naked truth. The simple reality that no one shares with parents until it's too late. 

Parenting adults are much harder and a great deal more stressful than parenting children.

Adult children don't listen, don't take advice, and still expect to get all the perks of being "your kid".

My dream of an empty nest may have been coming true, but it was minus the quiet part.

Parents of young adults struggle with plenty of worries. One of the biggest worries shared by most parents is teenage pregnancy. Happily, I made it through raising three daughters without realizing that fear.

Then the baby bomb came. My daughter Nicole delivered my first grandchild when she was 21. I was only 37 years old when the baby was born. 

For those of you who are great at math (congratulations, by the way), the answer is yes, I was fifteen when my twin daughters were born. 

I'm going to share a very private detail of my life with you. A detail I usually only share if it's absolutely necessary. In this case, I feel it is. So, with my daughters’ permission, I'll let you in on this detail. 

My two oldest daughters, the twins, are not my biological children. I married their father when I was nineteen, and shortly afterward, when the twins were four, they came to live with myself, my husband, and our newborn baby girl. 

Me and my girls (clockwise): Chey, myself, Alexa, and Nikki 

We are a family. Cheyenne Autumn and Nicole Shawna are my daughters in every sense of the word, no different than Alexa Kim, our youngest girl. We do not use the term "step" or "half" in our home. It simply doesn't apply. 

On December 23, 2015, Aidan Lee joined our family. I was officially a grandparent before I turned forty. Boy did I feel old. 

Now I have an adult child who still needs my guidance, but she's a plus one. 

I cannot wait to have many fun, entertaining, loving, frustrating, and delightful conversations about families with everyone. One of the irksome things about being a young grandparent is the lack of a community in which to express yourself. We're a small group and being able to share in each other's experiences is something I'm looking forward to. I invite you all to share your stories of being young grandparents; the joy, the hardships, any and all comments and feelings are welcome!

So, three daughters, no teen pregnancy, you may be thinking "hey, you did great!". If so, make sure you come back and read my next post, where I'll tell you about the circumstances surrounding my grandson's birth. It's a story you don't want to miss!

Best to you and yours,
Carly