The "Joyous Day in the Life of a Grandparent" Story

LDub, Courtney, Camille and Carol

It was an ordinary day.  Just finished cleaning off the supper table and putting the left-overs in the fridge.  A rather eventful day to say the least.  Carol and I have been in Maryland for the last couple of days taking care of our granddaughters while my daughter and son-in-law are visiting Lancaster County.  Not the same Lancaster County, PA where Carol and I are from, but the Lancaster County that is in the central part of the USA; specifically Nebraska.  Never knew that Lincoln, Nebraska was located in Lancaster County until I Googled it and found that Lincoln was founded in 1856 as the village of Lancaster, and became the county seat of the newly created Lancaster County in 1859.  Dave and Brynn are visiting with friends for a few days while Amah and Tampah hold down the fort back in Maryland.  Back in Maryland we are busy preparing school lunches, attempting to get the girls to bed on time and remembering to pick them up at school at the end of the day.  Today started at 7:15 am when our newly turned 11 year old granddaughter Courtney, who hates to get up and dressed in the morning, entered our bedroom dressed for school.  Seems I must take her to school early today because she has 5th grade chorus practice at 8:00 am.  Carol gets breakfast for her while our other granddaughter, Camille starts to get ready for school.  My first trip of the morning to Centerville Elementary leaves the house at 7:50 am.  Only took me a couple of minutes and Courtney shares a kiss and exits the car in plenty of time for her practice.  Back to the house and breakfast before Carol and I hop in the car together at 8:20 am to take Camille to school.  This time we encounter quite a few more cars as we get in line to drop off Camille in front of the school.  I was told the proper protocol of the "drop" the night before.  If you might be the first car in line to enter the drop-off lane, you have to pull to the far cone or others behind you will blow their horn at you.  You only have a very short period of time to get out of your car or again, horn-blowing will take place.  And finally, as soon as the door to the car is closed, get out of the driveway.  Hey, I aced it with no trouble.  Back at 12:10 pm for lunch with Camille.  Carol and I stopped for a burger, fries and a drink to take with us and we waited at the entrance to the cafeteria with our official "Visitor" badge in place.  Met Camille who ushered us to her table that was filled with at least another dozen third graders.  Sitting only about 18" off the ground on a bench that is maybe 8" wide is an experience I haven't had since ...... I can't remember when!  Did get to meet a variety of gracious young ladies who were more than glad to share my skinny fries.  Finally back one last time at 3:15 pm to park on a side street and wait for the 3:30 dismissal.  Girls told me not to get back in line again or we may not be home until bedtime.  After a quick trip to the grocery store for a treat, we headed home for a review of the day.  Supper included the traditional family "high of the day, low of the day and what you did to help someone today" go-around the dinner table.  Pretty neat way to start plenty of conversation and a lot of laughs.  Bedtime?  Whenever .... hey we're the grandparents and can set our own rules when visiting.  Besides, "Dancing with the Stars" with a young girl from the Disney Channel was on the menu.  Finally, collapsing into bed in total exhaustion.  "That's why God planned for the young to have children," my wife told me.  Amen!!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.