Welcome to the world!
I had almost given up hope that I would ever have a granddaughter. I have two wonderful grandsons whom I love very much, but they like boy things and as they get older will probably not want to go shopping with their old grandmother or try on make-up, you know, girlie stuff (anyway, so far they haven't shown an interest in that).
And now here you are.
I know your Mommy will be your very best friend, but I hope that I will be a BFF too.
I am looking forward to all of the fun times we will have and things we will do together,
like...
Tea parties.
My mother used to collect cups and saucers. She kept them in a cabinet and she would let me pick out the ones that I wanted to be "mine." I have those cups and saucers now, and I will let you choose your favorites too. My mother used to do little tea parties for my girlfriends and me. She would make us some tea and toast and cut the toast into long strips that she called "fairy cakes." I will do the same for you and I will also make some little sandwiches and cut off the crusts and we will have scones and jam, just like they do in England. If you like, your dolls can join us.
Playing with dolls.
Your Aunt Ashley had a few American Girl dolls, and I still have those. However, I have added a few more to the collection, well more than a few. Her room looks like a shrine to the American Girl doll. OK, more like a horror film starring a bunch of dolls. I couldn't help it. I needed a little granddaughter in my life!
I also have all of the Disney Princess (Barbie) dolls waiting for you.
("Twilight Zone" music ensues)
Playing Dress-up.
It's no secret that I have been known to buy the odd outfit or two. OK, or 100. Clothes come and go, but I have saved some that I thought a little girl just like you would love to dress up in. I loved to play dress-up when I was a young girl. So did your Aunt Ashley.
My grandparents lived across the street from where I grew up and I would spend time with them. One time I was snooping around up in their attic and found a trunk. When I opened it, I couldn't believe it. It was like being in a movie and finding treasure. The trunk was filled with clothes from the turn of the century and I'm talking about the turn of the 20th century! My grandmother said I could play with those clothes and boy, did my friends and I have fun with them. When we play dress up, we can pretend to be princesses or fairies or the President of the United States!
Shopping.
This is something I have honed to a fine art.
I can teach you the "bob and veer." That's where you are shopping in a store and suddenly take a sharp turn and disappear because you spotted a Marc Jacobs dress on sale. It's like "bob and weave," but with "bob and veer," you bob and then, rather than weaving, you veer directly in a straight line to the object of your desire. Hubby, your Papi, HATES that.
Or the "I can't afford NOT to buy this!" technique. That means that the item is on sale and has been marked down so low you will lose money if you don't purchase it. OK, that's sort of a joke, but the idea is that it would be a crime not to buy it. So you do.
There is also the "I can't live without it" technique. My Dad would always ask me that. "Is that something you can't live without?" What do you think my answer was?
And finally, there is the "It might be gone forever" ploy. This means that you might find something you can't really afford, but if you don't get it, then when you DO have the money the item will be gone and you will never find it again and regret it for your whole life. So you have to buy it to avoid that kind of pain in your life.
I learned most of these shopping techniques from my Dad. My mother did not approve. In fact, it is easy to misunderstand these things, so let's just keep them between you and me, OK?
Reading together.
C'mon, of course we are going to read and read and read. Your brothers already love books.
After all, your old Glammy is a librarian. We can go to the library together and get your very own library card and that card will open up a whole wide world of adventure.
And speaking of Glammy, you might wonder why I am called that. Well, I might have wanted to be Grammy, but my mother was Grammy to her grandchildren, so that nickname was taken. If you had known my mother, you would know why there was only one Grammy! And even though your other grandmother is quite a bit more glamorous than I am, she wanted to be called Grandmother, so I thought, why not? I wanted to be an actress, I have a bit of an Auntie Mame side and love to dress up, so Glammy seemed to fit.
Watching Musical Comedies Together.
Growing up, my mother and I loved to watch the old musicals - "Singin' in the Rain," "The Music Man," "Oklahoma." Then I watched them with my own daughter and now I look forward to showing them to you. Who knows? Maybe you will be the next musical comedy star!
Talking about boys.
And boy, can I tell you some stuff about boys!
Those are just some things I have been wanting to share with a little granddaughter. You.
But you know what? If it turns out you don't like those things, that's OK too. I will just be happy to spend time with you doing whatever you love to do and getting to know you as you go through life.
And I wish for you a life filled with giving and receiving happiness, thoughtfulness, kindness, empathy, compassion and equality.
You probably won't be able to believe it, and I hope by the time you are old enough to notice there won't be any vestiges of inequality still around, but there was a time when women didn't have rights - they couldn't own property, they couldn't vote, they had to ask their husbands or fathers for permission to do almost everything, they were treated as second class citizens, and even today many women do not get paid the same amount of money for doing the same work as men. Can you believe it?
Your mother, grandmother, aunt and I are all feminists and we hope you will be proud to call yourself one, too, and you will care about women's rights. Because there is still work to be done. I have been concerned that many young women today don't seem to wear the word "Feminist" with pride. It's almost as if they take for granted what women in earlier generations had to do to get where we are today. I wrote about that a few months ago - "Why is Feminist Such a Dirty Word?"
And can you believe that the United States has never had a woman President? We are one of the few major countries in the world where that is the case. I hope that by the time you are old enough to vote, there will not only have been a woman President, but more than one!
I hope that you will be proud to be a woman and not take any crap. There, I said it.
I wish for you a world you feel safe in.
I want you to be able to go out in the world without fear. Women should be free to travel, go out at night, dress how they wish, all alone and without fear. But the reality is that there is some bad stuff out there. So be brave but be smart and don't take any crap. There, I said it again.
I also wish for you a wonderful education and the joy of learning.
You come from a family that has always valued education. Growing up, it never occurred to me that I wouldn't go to college. Your Dad and grandmother had to get a lot of education to become attorneys, your uncle is a professor and your Aunt and I both had to get master's degrees to become librarians. Your Mom has a master's degree in business from Berkeley and your Aunt went to Stanford, neither of those were small feats. So you and I will be talking about colleges in a couple of years. You can never start too early.
I wish you love.
You have the most wonderful parents and brothers and family all around you who love you. I hope you will experience lots more love in your life, giving love and receiving love, and no matter what happens, even if your heart gets broken, that you never give up on love.
You are only 5 days old. I am 67 years and 243 days old, so I hope we will be able to do all of those things together and that I am still around to see you grow and graduate and find love and have children of your own.
But if not, you have this little thing I wrote so that you will know I couldn't wait to meet you and that I love you already.
So my darling girl, it's a big wide world out there just waiting for you.
Live fearlessly!
Go for it!
Love,
Glammy
Thanks for Reading!
See you Friday
for my review of the new movie
"Pride and Prejudice and Zombies"
(Who can resist a title like that)?
and
The Week in Reviews
(What to See or Read and What to Avoid)
and the latest on
My 1001 Movies I Must See Before
I Die Project."
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