On the Family Side

As a congregation we often pray for our “children and grandchildren”. Recently someone remarked that Shirley and I are no fully part of that group. We are indeed very thankful for the safe arrival of our first grandchild, Sophia Ruby. In Dutch a grandchild is a “small child”. A grandparent is a “great parent” (same idea as in English). A great grandparent is an “over great parent”. 

Both Shirley and I grew up without knowing much of our grandparents. Shirley met her maternal grandmother once. Her paternal grandparents are still a mystery that we are trying to solve. Scott met his maternal grandmother once as well, but had some contact via his mother. He met his paternal grandparents once as well, since his family traveled quite a bit for his father’s military duties. 

Our boys, with us living here in Europe, had of course much less contact with their grandparents than others might have. Shirley’s father passed away before the boys were even born. I fact I never met Shirley’s father either. The boys did get to meet Shirley’s mother at least twice on our return trips to the US. 

Scott’s father met Stephan as a baby and then the boys met him again in Denver when they were young. They met one more time when Sean was a teenager and we had dropped Stephan off at Harding University. The boys had more contact with Scott’s mom throughout the years. We stayed at her house when we dropped into Colorado on our visits. She even came to visit in Belgium after Sean’s birth. 

So both of us are more than aware that grandparents can be present from far away, as much as they might want to be closer more often. It is not always possible. The interesting thing for us was in how to name the grandparents. In Dutch grandpa is most often called “Opa” and grandma is “Oma”. That is what we had the boys call their paternal grandparents. Shirley’s mother was still “Grandma”, as often as they were able to use it. 

We have been wondering how we might want to be called as grandparents. Having the other language means that we can choose for something different. But it is also true that Stephan calls me “papa”. For many in the US, this is a term for grandpa. And Shirley was not so thrilled with the sound of “oma”. It sounded too “old” for her (imagine “grandmother” spoken full out every time by your grandchild). 

So we have let Stephan and Natalie know that we would like to be called Omi and Opa. Of course, we look forward to the time that Sophia can see us and say for herself what we will be called for her - even if it is “mmmphhnnn” or some such sound. What do you call your grandparents? And how are you known by your grandkids? 

(The picture above references a song about Grandpa's that you can listen to here).