Hold Me Closer Tiny Dancer

Hold Me Closer “Tiny Dancer.”

A few weeks ago we got a call from our oldest son Jake and his wife Grace.

They wanted to show us some of the projects they’d been working on in their house.

Grace is super artistic and was putting up this beautiful wallpaper in the dinning room.

They showed us the finished side and then turned the camera to show us the other side but there was nothing on a the wall but a few little photographs.

As they zoomed in Kathy and I looked at each other and started to cry.

We were looking at pictures of our first grandchild.

Later that week they were having a reveal party with their friends to discover the sex of the child.

They invited us with FaceTime.

The doctor put the sex of the baby in an envelope that they gave to a bakery.

Sitting on the screen was a white frosted cake and Jake & Grace holding a wine glass.

Graces parents were also there through FaceTime as they used the glass to cut the cake…….the cake was blue….”It’s a boy.”

Something changed for Kathy and me at that moment.

The headlines, bills to pay, time at work all became back burner items.

When Grace & Jake got married Jess, our youngest was Jake’s best man.

Jess is 6’5”, Jake 6’2”, I’m 6’2” and Kathy is 5’8”.

Grace is pretty short by those standards.

At the end of Jess’ speech at the dinner he welcomed Grace to the family and said “Grace, now you are officially the Tiniest Dancer.”

As we got ready to hang up the phone with Jake and Grace, knowing we had a little boy on the way, I said to Grace, “You know, you are no longer the tiniest Dancer.”

I’ve heard grandparents say this stage of life is the greatest. I’ve heard them tell me how much it changes your outlook on life. I get it now.

That little boy is an extension of my family, Kathy’s family, Grace’s family and our history.

He will have bits and pieces of all of us knit into his DNA which just blows my mind and softens my soul.

He’s a Chen, Maxwell, Dancer, Olson, Diehm, Crawford, all of us.

I’m already praying for our Tiniest Dancer. God has a plan for his life and we can’t wait to see what that is. We also cannot wait to be part of it. He will know who we are and how much we love him.

When my boy’s were young, in jest, they would call me “Pops.”

It was like a joke or something.

As I look at my third boy I wonder what he will be like.

I wonder what that will feel like when he says for the first time, an echo from my past. “Hey, Pops.”

I have a feeling that’s when you melt.