back in my home town today I am ready to finish the packing and sorting.  Hubby is ok on his own, working in our new place, and it is up to me to get on with stuff here.

So, as we settled in for a bit of lunch and a chat, it was fabulous to get a visit from my daughter in law, and my gorgeous Granddaughter.  Coming in through the back door they call hello, we are pleased to see them, always.  My daughter is snoozing on the sofa, a late night last night has left her a little worse for wear today.  All my favourite female family in one room, I am blessed.

Next week the littlest member of our family will have a birthday, it is almost three years since we met for the first time, and this tiny baby is growing into a gorgeous little girl.  She is a great mix of her parents.  She has her Dad’s thought processes and her Mum’s sense of fun, and she has inherited stubbornness from both of them.  When our girl does not want to do something she is determined not to.  Mostly she is easy going, happy to get involved with adventures and with life’s tasks, however, when she says NO she means it.  She did not want to come and join in the chat with Nana, she was not coming into the living room today.

The battle of wills is tricky, not wanting to teach her the wrong things we decide to ignore bad behaviour in the hope she will get fed up.  Not this time.  This tiny person has tenacity.  Eventually all is calm, she is smiling again, and we are all relieved.

It struck me later that this tenacity is a good thing and will probably serve her well.  The ability to stick to what you think is right, despite adversity is often useful in all sorts of experiences.  The might of the tiny one, harnessed, could surely power the world.

We settle to watch a film, a new cartoon adventure in which the wayward daughter sails the forbidden seas and saves her people.  This delights me, as in my day it would always have been the son, the boys who had the adventures.  I love that there are these role models for girls.  It also struck me that the hero of this film would also have been standing in the kitchen not moving until she chose to, and how good this is.

I was a girl who wanted adventures, always.  I was also the girl wrapped in so much love I was seldom allowed to move from Mum’s side.  I would never have stood my ground at almost three, but certainly by teen years I was ready to grab the world and see what it could bring.  My poor Mum didn’t know what to do with me. So, looking at my Granddaughter, watching her stamp her mark on the world, was wonderful.  I hope she keeps her sense of self, and that she always gets to make her own choices.

One of the things I am dreading about our new life is being so far from this little family, no longer will I bump into them at the park, or see her little face coming up the path.  Instead I shall spend a whole day each week with her, we will have adventures and fun, cuddles and kisses, it will be fine.  All shall be well.