Living Arrows, week 1

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth”

I have seen Donna’s Living Arrows linkie shared on social media for years but have never been able to join in because if focuses on children and their growing every week, with mine being in their late teens and early twenties when I first saw it joining in was too much of an intrusion into their private lives. With a grandchild in our lives now though it gives me a focus to join in with Living Arrows and to share this journey that is being a grandma, or in my case a Nanny. (You can read here how I became a granny during the pandemic). So here we are with my Living Arrows Week 1 post.

I have wanted to be a nanny since I was about 7. I even went to college and trained for two years to be a nanny before working for two different families in Essex, one where I lived in, and one living out. Both of them looking after small people before realising the pay was atrocious and even in the late 80s it wasn’t enough to live on so I had to retrain as a PA.

Fast forward 30 years and here I am again, as a nanny, where this is no pay but I get rewarded with all the smiles and hugs I can absorb. Lily came into the world, making me a nanny, during the first lockdown and it was some weeks before we able to meet for the first time. The allowance of childcare bubbles for families with a child under the age of one literally saved all our sanity in the summer. My job allows me flexibility to be there if Caity or Lily need me and so we were honoured when Caity and Dan asked they could form their childcare bubble with us. It has meant I have been able to help Caity out with appointments or tasks at home, and they have been able to come here for the day at the weekend. During the week Caity has been able to come over with Lily and its been lovely switching off the outside world, sitting on the floor and just hanging out and watching her grow.

Watching her with Bruce as they both sit and watch football on a Sunday afternoon is a joy. Watching her sit in her high chair and eat her first roast dinner, and then her first spaghetti bolognese has been indescribable. It makes my heart sing.

It is safe to say that whilst becoming a granny hasn’t been the easiest ride and there has been so much more I have wanted to do, when it comes down to it just doing nothing has been the best thing of all.

I honestly can’t wait to do more of it in 2021, and to sharing a picture here each week so I can look back on it all in a few years time to remind myself of what we got up to.