Monday, January 11, 2010

Over the Rainbow with Finn


Finn and Juju

Our grandchild, Finn has brought such warmth, hope and happiness into our lives, mine ("Nonna") and my husband’s ("Juju"). This new experience, like most in life, has been filled with various emotions, memories, wishes, intentions, but always felt as a blessing. And like any experience there is what we ourselves bring to it and what is brought to it by others. We need only to observe and to reflect, especially when a new being comes among us. We now are living in between the memory of what it was like to be new parents ourselves and how it is to be new grandparents.
     Waiting for Finn to be born was like a long and beautiful dream come true, our own child and his wife starting a family. With the extra long labor of his mother Sanne, at home with a midwife, there was concern for her and the child. We waited. Although our son told us not to come to town until we heard there was a birth and all was well, like disobedient children, we left immediately so we would be nearby until our first born grandchild arrived and we could see him.
     Finally, we were called a day later and made the short walk to see our first born grandchild. The magic had begun. On the walk that beautiful fall day, we saw a rainbow above the town in the direction we were heading. We arrived and tiptoed upstairs to enter the candle-lit room. In the glow, there was the newborn in the sheltering arms of mother and father. It felt like (and always must be) a holy place into which an infant is welcomed with awe and love.
     Finn has been tresure and constant source of joy and light in all of our lives. He is beautiful, healthy and bright. We all notice and comment on the skills and abilities developing in his body, in his thinking, and marvel at his responses of inner and outer gestures toward others. We marvel at his curiosity and interest in everything around him, at his dexterity with legos and puzzles, in matching colors and shapes. Most notable are his interactions with others, seemingly tuned in to situations with sensitivity and reciprocity.
     We also remark on his incredible memory, as he has begun to articulate where and how something has happened, accompanied with hand gestures and facial expressions, which are most charming and endearing. He is responsive, helpful, wishing and able to participate in all daily activities, like making breakfast, sweeping the floor, washing the dishes and putting his toys back into their proper places. He loves books, pictures, songs, stories and verses. He is fortunate that his mother and his maternal grandmother (Mormor) can, and sometimes do, speak to him in their native Norwegian language and share their love of all outdoor activities, we all have also provided cultural and creative experiences, reading, museums, music and art.
     He looks like his mother, who is beautiful (inside and out), with his light hair, delicate build and blue, blue eyes which look out in a certain way, as if to say, “I know who I am, and/or “I know who you are.” Sometimes he will just look with a very intense, thoughtful gaze and then maybe say a word or thought which reveals a kind of wisdom or insight most remarkable. He wants to do everything and usually learns everything on a first try with a “Finn do it,” or “My to do it.” He can, and he does! He likes to watch videos (when permitted now and then) ones deemed acceptable/appropriate and sometimes necessary in a pinch. It is adorable to see him all comfy and settled with his little snack tray, enthralled, as he lifts a little morsel to his mouth, with an amused smile at the adventures of his animated favorite friends, Kipper, Kaiyu or Hungry "Pillar" (caterpillar).
     Finn has always loved and looks for the moon (moona). This seems so connected to who he is (was or will be). I see this moon love as both what he is attracted to and what he is: everything that is rythmic, bright, mysterious, pure, reflective, but, most of all, circling round the things he loves, as well as attracting those around him into his brilliant sphere of beauty and light. Also, when he talks about the stars and angels, he becomes them, and we all look on with wonder.
     The most wonder-filled thing about Finn is that he thrives on having lots of people around, and when the extended family sit around a table for a meal, or gather in a room, he seems most joyful and content, as we are welcomed into and know we are an important part of Finn’s world and his tender, open heart.
     It seems as though he is like his parents in so many ways. Both his mother, Sanne (aka Mama/Mommy/Mama Mia) and father, Rob, (aka Papa/ Dad/Papa Pia) are creative, energetic, multi-talented, thoughtful, responsible and caring people who love and respect each other. So Finn gets to sew, bake, go for long walks and make things at a craft table with mother, and with his father play drums, build things, draw and wrestle. We all put him first, with patientce, kindness and humor. Ultimately, what Finn is heir to is an exemplery experience of the good, the beautiful and the true. At least, we try to reflect that back to him.
     We do not live so close to Rob, Sanne and Finn, so are unable to be part of their everyday lives, but close enough to visit over a weekend in upstae New York, preferably a long one. Those visits to them and their visits to us, we anticipate beyond imagination. Later, we recall and share something Finn did or said, which may have been ordinary, but seemed amazing because it was our Finn and filled our hearts. Then we again begin looking ahead to the next visit--our lives the deeper and richer for them. They are precious  times in the glow of our dear, growing family, in which Finn has become the center, being the first and only grandchild--for now.
     With Finn’s arrival, a special place has been created within us that is all longing in our hearts, like a nest tucked away among the quiet, fragrant pine boughs or a hidden teasured bowl waiting to be filled with his presence. 

     Then, all is shining and golden, all giving and loving, all receiving. And the bowl is brimful.

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