In trouble with Mama

My mama doesn't like to be the center of attention. I threw her a surprise birthday party one time, and I thought she was going to kill me before we even cut the cake.

And then there was her retirement party at the school where she worked. She was so shaken up that her face went from red to almost purple!

So imagine her surprise when I snapped a picture of the Life section in the Mother's Day paper and texted it to her. The editor asked staffers to submit pictures of their moms, along with a description of why the picture is important. Some were mothers and daughters or sons, and a couple of men wrote about their wives, but I wanted to write something about my mama as a grandmama.

Here it is:

See that biggest photo in the middle? Yeah, that's my mama!

I had nothing to do with the fact that the designer chose Mama's picture as the main one. She just said she thought it was the cutest one. And I didn't even write anything mushy, but Mama still gave me a hard time.

I wrote: "When my son, Griffin, was born in 2008, my relationship with my mama changed. And it was for the better. We’ve always been close, but to be able to bond over parenting was really special. She is a big part of Griffin’s life, and she does all the things with him that I remember my grannies doing with me — baking cookies, sneaking treats, keeping secrets, playing make-believe. Mama and I talk on the phone every day, usually about nothing important, but if something big does come up, I know she’ll be there. She always has been."

Biscuit spends about three weeks a year at my parents' house - spring break and two different weeks during the summer. I love that he has that time without Jeff and me around. My brother and I always spent two weeks with my grandparents in the summer.

Well, my daddy's parents lived right near us, so we saw them a lot. But the ones we visited in the summer lived 5 1/2 hours away. So we stayed two consecutive weeks. Without our parents there, my brother and I had our grandparents' undivided attention. We got to know them way better than we ever would've if our parents had been around the whole time.

And that's why I'm glad Biscuit enjoys staying with them. I know that when he's grown, he'll look back on that time with fond memories.

And besides, after I put Mama's picture in the paper, I'm not sure she's gonna let me in the house!