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was a decision she has never regret–
ted. She completed four years of
college, graduated, met her future
husband at college and is now hap–
pily married.
When the wedding took place
last summer the grandparents were
The eventful day carne and
I
remained remarkably composed, 1
thought. The wedding march started
and I escorted my daughter down
the aisle. Stepping around in front I
began, "There is no more joyous cer–
emony than this we now enter."
Perhaps the most valuable asset of all that
grandparents can pass along is their experience.
all in attendance. My daughter and
future son-in-law had asked me to
perform their wedding ceremony
just as her sister who had been
married a year earlier had done.
It
is a special privilege not only
to walk down the aisle to present a
lovely young bride to the bride–
groom, but to step around and offi–
ciate the ceremony. As you can
well imagine it is a time of great
emotion.
There was sorne concern from
my wife that I would not fully
maintain composure- that my
voice might crack or a tear might
come to my eye. She was certain
she would be sitting in the front
row holding back the tears (of joy,
of course).
April 1985
That was al! it took. On the front
row Grandpa simply could not hold
back the tears. In arder not to do
the same, all I could do was bury
my head in the ceremony and read
it througb. I know the joy of a
father presenting his daughters as
brides, but Grandpa assures me 1
have a special emotion waiting
when my grandchildren take that
step.
Somehow it seemed a proper
conclusion to the advice he gave
her nearly five years befare.
Never underestimate the in–
fl uence of grandparents.
A Call for Grandmother
There is one special time when you
absolutely must have a grandmoth-
er. That is at the birth of your chil–
dren. Somehow grandmothers
know everything there is to know.
And the fledgling new parents
seem to know so little even though
they may have read more than a
dozen books on having and caring
for babies.
Probably thousands of new
fathers would have nearly starved
had Grandma not come to take care
of the household after the new baby
arrived.
When we had our first child,
Grandma carne to spend the first
week. It was so pleasant to have her
that she had to come and spend at
least a week at our home for the
birth of our next four children.
One time Grandma and Grandpa
were part of the whole process.
When our third child, and only son,
was born, we were living only a few
miles from the grandparents.
About 4 o'clock in the morning my
wife jarred me awake saying,
"Honey, wake up, wake up, the
baby is on the way." This was hap–
pening a few days befare "due–
day. "
1 jolted out of bed and called the
doctor. " Oh no! " his wife
exclaimed. "My husband has gane
fishing. There would be no way to
find him on tbe lake."
1 called the nurse. But she lived
about 45 minutes away. "How far
apart are the pains?" she asked. 1
rushed back to the bedroom to find
out. "You'd better hurry," my wife
urged, " the pains are two minutes
apart." "Two minutes," I reported
to tbe nurse. "I'd better get right
over," she hastened.
Most expecting parents have
read books on what to do in such
emergencies. But you never feel
you'll have to use the knowledge.
This time 1 had to. Of all the times
for a fast delivery, my wife had to
choose this one. Our first child had
been about a seven-hour labor and
the second was eight or nine hours.
I naturally assumed 1 had plenty of
time, that the nurse would arrive
and even the doctor would return
from his morning fishing and be in
attendance.
I called Grandma and Grandpa
and told them the baby was on the
way. They said they would be right
over- it would take maybe half an
hour. Forty-five minutes from the
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