Dear Liza,
Just seven years ago, you were born in Salinas. I was living there too, just a few blocks from your house, and because I had good substitute teachers, I got to spend a whole week with you, all day, every day, after you were born.
Newborn babies need their mommies most of all, for nourishment and loving. Their daddies need love and support, and time to learn how to care for the tiny new one. But the mommies and daddies need lots of rest, as well as laundry done and food cooked, and the babies need to be washed and rocked. That’s where Grandmas come in.
You weren’t my first grand baby, or even my second, but you lived just blocks away and I got to see you so often! Day by day you cried less and looked around more, recognizing faces and songs, becoming the delightful person you are.
When you were about two, you could stand on a chair at the kitchen counter and help when we made bread and cut vegetables for our Wednesday night dinners. I loved showing you how to trim the rosemary from the garden and introducing you to my old dolls and favorite stuffed animals.
And when I retired and we decided to move, the hardest part was moving away from you in Salinas. Jasper and Kestrel, your cousins are up here, but with the coronavirus shut down, I can’t see them, either. So I am spending some time missing you and those first years we knew each other.
Love,
Grandma Judy
Dear Liza 