Violeta is one year old today and I’m learning be a good grandmother.

It finally happened!  I always said I wouldn’t!  But I’ve caught the grandmother bug  just like everybody said I would.  But who would not fall head over heels in love with this marvelous creature, blood of my blood, the  continuity of the Gabilondo line and the royal blood  of my wonderful daughter in law Victoria?

Always cheerful, smiling, secure and serene, Violeta is the product of a dedicated, informed, caring, disciplined mother and a loving father. She’s named after my mother and sometimes looks astoundingly  like her- she’s got the same green, mischievous eyes and her overbite. I hope she gets her legs and not mine!

And I’m learning how to be a good grandmother unlike my mother who did not set a good example.

The moment our children were born she informed us all that she would not be available for babysitting and that if we wanted them to stay with her longer than an hour, a nanny had to come along. She was not prepared to sacrifice her life  like  Mane, her grandmother, had for her and her three siblings.  While my grandparents lived their fairytale romance in the house next door, Mane had to bring up the children.

But mother tried.  She even took Larizza , Aida’s daughter and my stepchildren Marissa and Spanky to Disneyland one year and the constant shouting of  the girls fighting over who was going to be Farrah Fawcett in their Charlie’s Angel game drove her crazy and that was it for her. I don’t remember  if she ever took my twin boys.

When we moved to New York she came to see me and the boys.  As soon as she got to our apartment she headed straight to the refrigerator for a snack,  Rodrigo told her not to bother because  there was nothing there (these were our lean times) she looked at it in dismay and immediately took the boys to the grocery store and stocked the refrigerator with all the necessities and all the junk food I wouldn’t allow.  She took Rodrigo to tea at the Plaza (Aaron asked her how much it would cost her and asked for the money instead) and was pretty good in the grandmother role.

But that was not her calling and I thought not mine either  though I have been a good step-grand mother to Spanky’s daughters and Marissa’s stepchildren, or so they say.  Are  you still with me? We have a close but unconventional family.

So Violeta thanks for bringing that special kind of love into my heart.  Feliz cumpleanos. Here areLas Mananitas on You Tube for you.