Gramps

So I'm starting Winter Quarter 2010, class schedule English 202, and History 387, when I get a phone call from my daughter in Austin.  "It's time, dad.  Better get down here."  I've waited for this call, this moment for a while, the signal that I'm about to be Gramps!  What a weird, wonderful, mind-boggling concept--me, a grandfather!  So, of course, I get on-line, check with SWA.com, arrange a flight to Austin, and as the flight information spits out on the computer screen the realization begins to seep into my addled brain.  When I shuffle off the airplane in Texas, I will likely have ahead of me the prospect of holding my grandson in my arms, marveling at his fresh little face, the pink newness of him, the promise he contains.  And of course I'll be transported back 31 + years to the night I held his mother in my arms for the first time, swaddled against me, marveling at the promise she contained, one of which has just revealed itself: She held the promise of making me a grandfather.
    The printer spits out my itinerary.  My mind is filled with memories, concerns, joy, surely, and the understanding that, as a grandfather, just as with fatherhood, it will be a seat of the pants affair.  Then to more practical things: How long will I be in Austin, what if she doesn't deliver right away, etc. etc.?    Among the myriad considerations is what to do about school?  And here's the fun part.  I'm looking forward to approaching teachers with the news, asking them for a bit of forbearance.  I'll need to miss classes.  And I wonder how many of them have had to make accommodations for a student/grandfather?  Not many, I'm guessing.  It will be interesting to go through this process, and to see the reaction from various people when the OMOC takes off for one of life's premier events.  Also, I wonder what they'll think when I share pictures of the grandbaby?  Stay tuned.