Grandma, nana, granny…?

Cedar Hill, TX
Dec 18, 2000

 “Before the baby is born you need to discuss with your children what you would like to be called, ‘nana’, ‘grandma’, ‘pop’, etc.”, the leader of the class instructed. Robert and I, and Brenda, our daughter-in-law’s mother were attending Jason and Anna’s pre-natal class at the hospital. It was grandparents’ night.

Brenda and I looked at each other. “Do you want to be called grandma?” I asked her.

“I don’t know.” she answered. “I don’t feel like a grandma. Do you?”

“Not really. And, if the little one calls us both ‘grandma’, how will he/she distinguish between us. Do you want to be Grandma Jackson?”

“Oh, no. We still have two Grandma Jacksons in the family.”

“I don’t think I want to be Grandma Stutzman either. I wonder how Grandma Verna sounds?” I turned to Robert, “Do you want to be called Grandpa? How about Grandpa Stutzman?”

Robert replied, “I guess so. I never had any grandpas and neither did our boys. I don’t know what it’s like.”

Jason and Anna just grinned at us as we discussed this momentous topic.

According to the Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, the term, ‘grandfather’ does not occur in the King James Version of the Bible and ‘grandmother’ only occurs once – 2 Timothy 1:5. “I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.”

Even if we can’t decide what we want our grandchild to call us, I pray that we will be able to pass on our sincere faith to him/her just like Timothy’s Grandma Lois did. (Maybe Grandma Verna wouldn’t be so bad.)

PS This week I’m taking nominations for grandmother and grandfather titles. Here’s your chance to make a tremendous impact on my life!