Nick is 27

It seems that all my life I looked forward to being a grandmother. Being a mother held too many responsibilities but I just knew that when I was a grandmother it would be fun all the way...and it has been, mainly.

Kim and Brian tried for a couple of years to get pregnant without success and then one evening they came to our house for a visit. I can still see them sitting there all aglow and then came the words we'd waited so long to hear. They were pregnant. I cried with a happiness I didn't realize was so intense until I found out that my very first grandchild was on the way.

Nick was born on June 7, 1984 and weighed 11 lbs., 1 1/2 oz. Kim was an average sized woman but she had previously tried fertility drugs a while before becoming pregnant and I always said the Nick was really 2 babies wrapped in one. He was gorgeous from day 1. I loved him with all my heart from the moment he was born and that has never changed over the past 27 years. I will love him forever.

Becoming a grandmother never made me feel old but, if anything, younger at heart. I had a whole new little life to follow from babyhood to adulthood and Nick has been an exceptionally fine person every second of those years.

Nick is a father himself now, with 2 little sons, Nolan and Nash. Nolan looks just like his Daddy. So often, when I look at Nolan, it takes me back 25 years to when his father was the same age and I smile at the sweet memories. Yes, being a grandmother and now a greatgrandmother has brought me some of the best memories I hold dear.

Seven more grandchildren followed over the years and each holds a special place in my heart. There are no favorites because I love each and every one of them completely. I'm not sure they understand that...maybe Nick does now that he has children of his own, though. You don't love any one more than the others but always in slightly different ways. Each child is unique and so is your love for them.

My Nick is special because he was the first and he's continued to be special just because he's my Nicholas.