The Best Journey

Here I am, living with my grandchildren.  Loving all that it entails.  We have suffered a lot of losses to get here.  When Dave and I took on the job legally of raising Audrie, we supposedly had support from his daughter.  And then she went on to make sure she wasn't available. That to the point of complete estrangement and that is all right after it came to be.  Along came Connor and we took him on also. We had Nana Nita who then moved north after her divorce.  I totally understand the move and the reasons for it, but it was still a big loss for us in every day living.  And then my own marriage finished blowing up.  But I knew a year ago that I would be able to do this because I already had to.  And so here we are.
We are creating a home every day.  We are living life and experiencing it.  We have a lot of fun.  We have a lot of frustration such as comes with a three year-old and an 18 month old. You walk up to my house and you know there are kids here.  There are chalk drawings on the concrete.  When you walk in you see the toys hopefully in the bins, but most likely on the floor.  I am not cooking gourmet meals.  Simple fare for child tastes.  We pick up and go to the park whenever we feel like it.  And we go to a lot of parks.
I am making strong efforts to include their parents in our lives.  And yes I know that means coming and going.  And that is hard to deal with, but we do it.  I am still making the drive north as often as I can so they see Nana Nita and Uncle Isaac and Aunt Treva and the cousins.  I want these connections for them and do what I can to see that it happens.  Not always successfully, but I try.
I am on the best journey of my life and I am taking the two of them with me.  And just wait until they get a little bit bigger and we start making that journey a little bit bigger and farther.  I feel so content with them and our life.