Just Call Me Grandpa

Picture with Knox taken this evening at Josh and Leah’s apt. in Dallas.

A few weeks before Knox was born last August, a well-meaning friend pulled me aside and said she wanted to ask an important question. “Have you and Marlene discussed what you want to be called once your grandchild is born?” She went on to say that this is an important issue because we could go by any names we liked, but once we made our decision, we couldn’t change it. “It doesn’t work,” she said, “to go by different names with different grandchildren.” So we needed to think about it for awhile and then make our choice known. 

That’s a question I had never thought about before. 

When I was young my father’s parents were known as “Poppa Pritchard” and “Momma Pritchard.” On my mother’s side, her parents were known as “Grandpa Poduska” and “Grandma Poduska.»

These days there are many choices, names like PawPaw, PeePaw, Pop, Poppie, or Boppa. Or on the other side you could have Gram, Grammy, Big Mom, Grams, MeeMaw, Nana, and so on. I just took an online test and discovered that my preferred name should be PawPaw. Maybe it’s because I said I want my grandsons to play football. 

After that friend asked the question, Marlene and I discussed the matter for a few minutes, realizing that we needed to have an answer before Knox was born. Without much effort, we decided to go with grandpa and grandma. Not too fancy, but it works for us. Having waiting longer than many people do, I’m happy (delighted would be more like it) to be a grandfather. Grandpa seems about right for me. And Marlene makes a beautiful grandmother. Together we’re grandpa and grandma, but when our grandchildren call us, we’ll answer to almost anything.