We have a lovely crib for our grandchildren in a room upstairs.
My husband is consistently changing the front of the crib.
Safety standards have changed so much since I had my children.
It has been twenty-four years since my youngest daughter was born.

Crib rails used to raise and lower.
That is deemed unsafe now.
Cribs used to have bumper pads around the sides.
They are now considered a hazard, since a baby’s head could get stuck underneath.

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There is a little thing that thrills me.
I have no idea why.
It happened the other morning.
I actually smiled from ear to ear at the sheer joy of it all.

I opened a new jar of peanut butter.
There it was.
No knife had disturbed the peanut-ty goodness.
No one had taken any peanut butter before me.

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We lived across the street from each other.
Our children grew up together.
In those years, the neighborhood consisted mostly of boys.
There were five sets of brothers ready to play football, basketball, or ride bikes together.

You always knew where everybody was because you saw their bikes on the driveway.
It seemed like the boys were either at our house or the house across the street.
Football was better on their front lawn because there was no large evergreen trees to contend with.
Board games were better at our house because we had a shady side porch with a table.

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I saw the letter on my desk in the kitchen.
I knew the handwriting.
I opened it.
What I read, warmed my heart.

The letter was from my daughter.
Or so I thought.
It was really from my 15 month old granddaughter.
It was from my granddaughter, though it was sent with a little help.

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It all started with a burner on my stove that did not work.
Of course, it happened while my husband was away.
He was building homes in Puerto Rico.
He goes on an international trip each year as a volunteer.

I have a cook top stove with large burners in the front.
The burners can heat two ways.
The burner will fully heat to accommodate a large pot.
It will only heat in the center to accommodate a small pot.

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I cannot decide why I liked the commercial so much.
Was it the song that played in the background?
Was it the item that was being advertised?
Was it the premise that the commercial was trying to convey?

The commercial was advertising ketchup.
The song was sung by Carly Simon.
The premise was that the ketchup took too long to fall from the bottle onto the hamburger.
Anticipation was the theme.

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It was a wonderfully busy weekend.
It was a weekend of celebration.
A baby shower for my daughter-in-love, and a birthday celebration for my husband.
Everyone was coming home.

I love seeing all the bedrooms full.
I love seeing all the cars in the driveway.
Everyone was coming home at different times.
A big pot of meatballs and sauce was simmering.

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It started as an innocent comment to my husband.
I should know after thirty-seven years of marriage that these kind of comments generate action.
Usually, I’m more careful.
This time; however, it just came out.

We really need to get the swing set ready.
There it was.
I happened to look outside and saw the swing set.
I could easily picture our precious granddaughter on the swings.

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She was walking with her father holding his hand.
She was skipping like little girls do.
It was a bitterly cold day and she was wearing her winter boots.
I heard the sound of the boots against the ground.

I was bringing my husband’s suit to the cleaners.
I was holding the suit tightly as the wind whipped around me.
I left the cleaners with my receipt in my hand.
I should have put the paper in my wallet since the wind was doing its best to steal it.

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I see my granddaughter at least once a week.
In between visits, my daughter will fill me in on some cute thing she is doing.
My husband and I get videos more often than the ones sent on the family text.
It is a known fact that grandparents never tire of seeing their grandchildren.

My daughter and son-in-love will set up the phone on the floor as we Face Time.
When we talk to our precious granddaughter, she will crawl towards us.
We get to see how fast she is crawling.
We get to see her excited little face as she tries to get closer to our faces.

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