Charnell Lucich

I’ve kept today being my birthday “on the down low” as someone put it today. Thankfully, it was a pretty quiet day at the office. I’m not one to celebrate my birthday and haven’t for many, many years. This year, it turned out to be the most interesting day and one that I will never forget.

I received a few happy wishes from co-workers and of course, from my family. But the one and only birthday present that I received today to make it the most memorable birthday ever was finding out that I am going to be a Grandma.

My first reaction to this news? I totally freaked out. I panicked. I wanted to crawl under a rock and never come out again. “I’m not ready to be a Grandmother, I’m too young for this!!” I shouted all afternoon.  This lasted for most of the afternoon today and I think it’s still lingering around in my head this evening. Along with the before-mentioned rant I spewed around the office today came words of stfu and stop being silly intelligence.

Darren, who happens to be a man that I trust dearly – with not only work related stuff, but personal stuff as well, wished me a happy birthday today while I was on his side of the building. My response was a sarcastic and sad, “thaaaanks”. Then I went into his office and explained to him the news I received today from my daughter. And after explaining that I followed up with, “She’s just ruined her life for the next 18+ years!” His response was perfect. His response was what I needed to hear to snap me out of the selfish mode I was in. He looked up at me from behind his desk, leaned back in his chair, smiled, and said, “Embrace it – she’s got the rest of her life to make mistakes.” He’s absolutely right.

I carried those words around with me for the rest of the day at the office thinking I can either embrace it and help her make the best of her life with this child, adding another good human being to society today, or I can let her figure it out on her own and wonder what this child is going to grow up to be. I choose the happier ending.

So, today – I am now a year older and a Grandmother. What a memorable birthday this will be.