July Needs to Hurry Up!

The lovely Madelyn Simone and I are enchanted with the Minions, those wide-eyed, banana-hued creatures who populate the Despicable Me movies. So when we first discovered the trailer for their new movie last November, we were super excited. Madelyn’s immediate reaction was, “Can we go see it today?” Unfortunately, the film won’t be released in theaters until July 10. If we wanted to see it earlier, we could take a trip to Australia, where it is opening on June 18^th, but I’m afraid we’re just going to have to wait until it arrives in Ohio.

Try explaining when July will be here to a four-year-old. I started in November: “First we’ll have Thanksgiving, and then Christmas. Then we’ll celebrate your daddy’s birthday, Nana’s birthday, your birthday, Mommy’s birthday, the last day of school . . .” Yes, I’m living in the fantasy land of wanting to reason with a small child, but even as exceptional and amazing as Madelyn is, I finally had to reach deep into my bag of grandparenting tools and say, “We cannot see the Minions Movie today.” “Why?” “Because I said so.”

I was miffed with the Minion marketers because Madelyn and I don’t want to wait nine months to see their movie. I don’t like being teased with what I can’t have, and these late winter days are going by slower than molasses in January, or should I say in March? Will July ever come back to Ohio?

Not only are Madelyn and I anxiously awaiting the return of Kevin, Stuart and Bob to the big screen; we’re also eagerly awaiting another arrival – a new sister for Madelyn. Yes, you’re reading it on the pages of the Times-Gazette. There’s going to be a new baby in the Shade family and the lovely Madelyn Simone is going to be a Big Sister – to a GIRL! That’s been Madelyn’s prediction all along, confirmed just this week by the ultrasound technician and proclaimed to the world on Facebook.

We are definitely excited, although our son Greg is worried about being outnumbered by a wife, two daughters and two female dogs. I know the feeling of being on the losing side of the gender balance in the house. You’ll get used to it, Greg.

Over the years, I've generally been clueless when looking at ultrasound images, but as I gaze at the shadows on the photos Greg and Lauren brought home from their doctor's visit, I can see the tiny hands of my granddaughter, Those are the same hands that will soon touch my cheek and grasp my finger. The coming of this little one feels like a time of advent as we begin to stretch our hearts and arms in a wide welcome for her.

In the early twentieth century, Christopher Morley wrote deeply about family relationships. “And it is as grandmothers that our mothers come into the fullness of their grace. When a man’s mother holds his child in her gladdened arms he is aware . . . of the roundness of life’s cycle, of the mystic harmony of life’s ways. There speaks humanity in its chord of three notes: its little capture of completeness and joy sounding for the moment against the silent flux of time. Then the perfect span is shredded away and is but a holy memory.”

Thelonious Monk had this to say about jazz. "I don't have a definition . . . You're just supposed to know it when you hear it." That's how I feel about Morley's description of coming into the fullness of my grace as a grandmother. I don't quite know how to describe it, but I know it has happened. I value the holy memory that has been, and look forward with anticipation to the new holy memories that will begin to form as a new child nestles in my arms. 

But first March, April, May and June have to serve their time. And then finally, Madelyn, it will be July, with its promise of sun, a bicentennial celebration, the Minions Movie and a new baby. Now. If the ice and snow would just begin to melt . . .