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I have always played an active role in my granddaughters life, and been glad to do it. When she was in Kindergarten and First grade I picked her up every afternoon from school. The school would call me when she would get sick in school, instead of calling her mother. I’m not sure how that came about or why but I didn’t mind it. I was the one who played room mother last year when Jasmine was in second grade, and set up the “Gingerbread house making party” for her class. This year I thought I would take a break from all that. I was under the impression that Jas’s mother wasn’t working right now and that Jas was riding the bus home from school every afternoon. I was wrong.

I called Jas’s mother yesterday to see if Jas could spend the afternoon and evening with me today. She said yes and asked if I wanted to pick Jas up from the after school program or if I wanted her to drop Jas off at 6:30 in the evening when she picked her up from the after school program at school. WHAT? You mean to tell me that for the last 2 weeks my precious little granddaughter has been sitting at school until 6:30 in the evening each and every school day? WTF? It fills me with horror. Who is giving her cookies and milk in the afternoon? Do they have a TV set where she can watch Sponge Bob cartoons at four o’clock? School ends at 2:35 so that’s a huge chuck of time to be sitting un school until 6:30 pm. The horror! So Gwanma to the rescue.


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I am picking Jas up from school at 2:35 this afternoon. And this evening when her mommy picks her up I am having a little chat with her and telling her I will watch Jas every afternoon after school. Well, with the exception of the one week that I will be in Wilmington and Charlotte NC soon. I am just disgusted that her mother didn’t approach me and ask if I would or could watch Jas after school. I feel bad about it like perhaps I may have been unapproachable this summer. And with our lives going through so many changes what with moving to MD and then moving back and being so unsure what we were going to do with our lives, I suppose I can see where her mom may have felt uncomfortable approaching me about watching Jas. She should know though that I would lay my life down for that little girl and no matter what she should let me know if there is something I can do to help Jasmines way of life. And I plan on telling her so tonight.

In a way I am relieved to be getting back into the old routine of having Jas every afternoon but in another way I will miss my afternoon naps. Naps are over rated anyway, right?