A Special Day!

This date, August 19th, marks a very special day in my life.

Eleven years ago today, one of the best things ever to happen to me took place.

It's the day, back in 1997, that I became a GRANDMA for the very first time!

Although I do have lots and lots of pictures of my grandson, Alex -My Prince - I have most of them on floppy discs and my A-drive is non-functioning so I can't go in and open them.

He was such a beautiful little guy the day he arrived in the world and today, he's such a handsome young man. I'm so proud of him for so many reasons. He's intelligent, a very good student (something that totally amazes his mother at times), is learning to play the trumpet and doing quite well with that, has a terrific sense of humor (obviously he got that from ME,) and for an only child, he is actually not very spoiled too! Just a little bit, just enough spoiled as that stuff goes, ya know!
This picture is the earliest one I could locate on my computer and was taken before Christmas of 1998 when he was about 16 months old. The two little girls posing with him are the daughters of Mandy's then boyfriend. He was such a happy little guy, can you tell?

These pictures above were taken around the Christmas holidays and that's my son, Clate and older daughter, Carrie, in the upper photo and Alex and me, taken at the office where I used to work back then -at that "world's largest private weather forecasting company."
This was Thanksgiving Day, 2003 -when Alex was six years old, seated with Katie (the stepgranddaughter, then 11, and Maya, who was just a month old. This was at the home of my Dad's youngest sister -my Aunt Mike and great-great-aunt to Maya and Alex.
This picture of Alex with Aunt Mandy (doing her most favorite thing in the whole world -washing dishes -NOT) and was taken in 2005, when he was eight. You can get a little idea here perhaps about what a tall boy he was -still is -because Mandy is almost 5 ft 8 inches and he was already up to her shoulder on this shot.
On this photo, taken after the funeral for my Dad's other sister, Aunt Lizzie, the little lady in the center is our Aunt Mike, who was 89 years old at that time and she's surrounded by her nieces and nephews who were present for our aunt's funeral. Aunt Mike specifically requested that Alex come stand by her for this picture though as she thought the absolute world of him and he worshiped her as well. Present here are: Bessie Ann, Alex, me, Aunt Mike, Isabel, Skip, Mike and Margaret Ann.
This is Alex and his Mom, Carrie, taken the end of the school year of 2006. Again, you can see how evident his height is as his mother is 5 ft 9 inches tall. (His dad is about 6 ft 3, I think, so he does come by this quite honestly!)
Here's Alex with his other Grandma (Marge), his stepgrandfather (John) and me -after the special program held at his school in the spring of 2006.
Here's our team for the 2007 Autism Walk and that's Alex in the middle in front!
This was taken at the Sears Studio when we had pictures taken of all the grandkids and I loved this picture of Maya, holding on to Alex. She adores him and he does quite well trying to entertain her, keep her occupied and happy whenever they are together.
At this year's Autism Walk, that's Alex, his Mom (Carrie) and she's holding Kurtis. By the way, our team raised $2,728 for the benefit of the Autism Now organization!
June 3, 2008 -Me (Grammy J), Maya and Alex -after his school's band concert in which Alex had a trumpet solo -and did very well with it too, I must add! My Aunt Mike had to be watching him from heaven and being just as proud as punch -just as I was -because she had taught music for many years, to say nothing of him being her "pet."
And here he is -in one of the portrait pictures done of him this spring. Now you have to admit, he is one heck of a handsome young man though, isn't he?

The morning he was born, I bypassed going to work that day till after lunch so I could go to the hospital to see him and his mother. It was the most remarkable thing ever for me because although I had three children of my own and knew the fascination of one's own newborn child, seeing him for the first time was I think even more special. I couldn't take my eyes off him! I could have sat there in the room and just stared at him the whole day if I hadn't had to make an appearance sometime that day at the office on campus where I was working! Guess grandchildren do that to us though, don't they?

So there's my birthday boy -Grammy's Prince Alex -who will always hold a very, very special place in my heart as my first grandchild, first grandson too, and here's hoping today was a special day for him as he celebrated the first of a couple gatherings in honor of his eleventh birthday!

Whenever you get up here to Gram's house, Alex -your birthday present is waiting for you!

Love you, always -my most special young man -Prince Alex, you'll always be to me!

Grammy J