… Its Grandparents Day.

Sometimes I wonder if there is a God in Heaven, and other times, like today, I am sure there is a God in Heaven.

No doubt.

Back up for a moment to yesterday … when I was given the opportunity to see a friend in a play … and stay over at her house last night.

So technically my Happy Holly item for the day started at 12:00 AM this morning. When Jeanne and I sat down in her beautiful new house, in her beautiful new sunroom … and talked about our beautiful new lives.

And we stayed up till after 2AM having a short chat.

After a pleasant nights sleep, I showered in a real shower with real water having real water pressure. This is also a luxury since my house is not only under renovation, it also has well water with dubious mineral properties and failing water pressure.

After a pleasant breakfast with real waffles and real maple syrup … and real strawberries … we adjourned to various parts of the house with real brewed tea to catch up on house things not discussed the night before.

At this point I thought it might degenerate into a typical Happy Holly day … full of ironies, both subtle and not so.

My daughter, who has moved to my old hometown had freed up some time to have lunch … after her church activities of the morning. And to celebrate the first birthday of her young son … handsome little man that he is … with me at a local restaurant.

Then we planned to go see my parents nearby.

Waiting for my daughters call I finished getting ready, checked my emails, and gathered my belongings. Normal enough for a Sunday …

Then the phone rang. And the chaos began. Starting with the lateness of the call … proceeding to the confusion over where to have the lunch … continuing on to the frustration of my parents at the relative lateness of it all … and finishing with the fact that the route I had chosen ran me right into heavy traffic for a Sunday afternoon ball game in town.

You know … typical Holly stuff.

But then, like a ray of sunshine that chaos went away.

The traffic cleared, the restaurant cleared, the booth was available, the food was excellent and …

I got to see my daughter and grandson.

Now this might not seem like a lot to some of you out there … but to me it is a miracle each time.

To say I went through a difficult divorce many years ago would be the understatement of the century. And I still have a daughter who refuses to speak to me. Or let me see her two daughters.

So the opportunity to see my youngest daughter … and her handsome year-old son … is a real blessing.

Lunch was delicious and so was my grandson … as he munched down crackers and a french fry or two … and charmed the socks off the wait staff with his large hazel eyes and dark curly hair … and eight-toothed smile.

It’s enough to melt a grandmothers heart.

And on that subject … we briefly mentioned the fact that I do not have an “official” grandmother type name. I suppose it will come in time … nothing in particular jumps out at me right now.

So finishing up lunch … we prepared to go see my parents … my daughters grandparents … my grandsons great-grandparents.

Why was this so important?

Well, yesterday my 86-year-old parents celebrated their 61st wedding anniversary.

And they had not seen this granddaughter for over twenty years.

And they had never seen their great-grandson … ever.

So with  not a little fear and trepidation, we caravaned down the short drive to my parents family home. And were met by my father who came outside in the rain to bring a large golf umbrella to protect us all.

Once inside, my daughter sprang into super-woman action. She went up and hugged and kissed both her grandparents … introduced her young son … and proceeded to settle in and start a lively conversation with my parents.

Sometimes that woman just makes me so proud of her.

As I saw the wonder and amazement in my parents face my heart twisted … that she had grown to be such a capable and poised young lady … and that her son … their great-grandson … was so adorable.

And he was.

In true little boy style, he smiled and crawled and reached and explored … and was the most pleasant young child since … well, since my children were that age.

Four generation pictures were taken … mother daughter pictures were taken … little man pictures were taken … and each time the camera flash went off, everyone was rewarded with a dazzling smile from our youngest participant.

But the best … the absolute best … was when it was time for my daughter and grandson to leave … naps are still a needed thing in his young life.

And as I carried him over to my Dad … he reached out and hugged us both and I could hear my Dad’s voice catch in his throat.

Then I carried him over to my Mom … and he reached out his chubby little arms to be held by her … and leaned up … and gave her a big kiss.

Now all this might seem normal to you … but trust me … it doesn’t happen every day in my family. Nothing like this has happened in over twenty years.

As my Dad said, they made this a real red-letter day … a real special day for them.

After we all left, I began my long journey back home here.

No sooner had I pulled out onto the main highway I looked up into the sky.  

The beautiful dark clouds … the distant blue sky.

Stunning.

And there in front of me … bigger than all the promises of Heaven was a giant rainbow.

A beautiful rainbow … and for all the world it almost looked like a double rainbow.

So I pulled off and took pictures.  And said a quick prayer of thanks and smiled a deep smile.

Then I drove home and checked my emails and whatnot on my PC before writing this. And I saw the headline …

“Today is Grandparents Day.”

Of course it is.