When we first learned we were going to become grandparents one of our sons was asking what we would like his kids to call us. I know lots of family have traditional names or cultural names or even names that the grandparents pick out themselves. Labels haven’t ever meant a whole lot to me. I’ve never cared if I was called Mrs. or Aunt or whatever, so I didn’t really have an opinion about what the grandkids should call me. My husband didn’t care either.

So babies are born and the parents just refer to us as grandma and grandpa. It would be safe to assume that the kids would follow that example and call us that too. But the one thing we never count on is how the child hears the words and is able to say the words. My sisters name is Kimberly, my daughter referred to her as Pippy for years!

Our oldest grandchild learns to speak and out of this sweet little mouth comes the words, Nana and Poppy, and two happier grandparents have never been born. They are silly names really, kind of foreign in our neck of the woods, certainly not something we would have sat down and requested seriously, but when she calls us by those names it melts hearts.

I think…..what does a Nana look like? Southern? Northern? Wealthy? Sophisticated? What does a Poppy look like? Jolly? Athletic? Ancient? I don’t know. I just didn’t think it was us. But I remember the day when my daughter just out of the blue started calling my sister Kimberly, that it broke more than one heart. We knew she was growing up and an era had ended and we were sad. So I’m willing to bet that at some point we will become Grandma and Grandpa and Nana and Poppy will be no more, and our hearts will crack a little bit.

Who would have ever thought that Nana and Poppy would make two adults smile like goofy love struck kids. I didn’t, I really didn’t. But for as long as we are Nana and Poppy, we will treasure it and smile over it and love every minute.