Mari & Ilna: What can I say? I'm enjoying this adventure every bit as much as I was on day one. Maybe more.

REAL Worlders-thanks for all the enthusiastic support. You guys are the best.

Becoming Ama (1/1)

"Ama!" Angie squealed happily as Elizabeth helped settle her in the baby carrier strapped to Joseph's back and handed her an animal cracker in preparation for a morning hike. "Ama!"

Elizabeth chuckled as her beloved granddaughter flailed her arms, attempting to point at a particularly colorful 'I'iwi, one of her favorite birds, and the cracker went flying.

Angie giggled. "Uh-oh."

A few seconds later a small terrier approached, sniffed the cracker interestedly, then gobbled it down quickly.

"Pepper! What are you doing?" The dog's owner snapped. 'Don't pick things up off the ground and eat them."

Elizabeth glanced at the woman with perfectly coiffed hair and a flawless manicure, looking as though she had just stepped out of the pages of Hiker's World magazine, and smiled. "It's ok. My granddaughter just dropped one of her crackers."

The woman smiled tightly. "Well, I suppose one little cracker won't hurt. But next time your granddaughter drops something you might want to consider picking it up. Not everyone wants their dog eating sugar and preservative laden human food."

Elizabeth was taken aback by both the woman's words and tone but managed to keep her smile firmly in place. "Actually, they're organic," she said. "But thanks for the advice."

She handed Angie another cracker and kissed her cheek.

"Bah ahhh eeee!" Angie cooed. "Ama!"

"That's cute," the woman said without an ounce of sincerity in her voice. "Does she call you Ama?"

"Yes, she does," Elizabeth replied.

"You should really consider correcting her when she says it, so she learns the right pronunciation," the woman said snidely. "That will create less problems that need to be fixed later. It may be cute when a three-year-old says 'kep-ich' but at five it's a problem."

With that she turned and stalked off.

"She must be fun at parties," Joseph chuckled, and Elizabeth nodded her agreement.

As she tucked the remaining crackers into Joseph's backpack for later her mind drifted to the night a month earlier at the condo when she and Joseph were babysitting.

"Ama!" Angie called as she sat in the middle of the floor with Joseph stacking her blocks. Her head swiveled towards the kitchen where Elizabeth had gone just moments earlier. She craned her neck. "Ama!"

Joseph beamed.

He was just about to call for his wife when she re-appeared carrying a small bowl of butterscotch pudding and Angie's favorite Donald Duck spoon.

"She was calling for you," he said excitedly and without preamble. "I think she's trying to say grandma. She was looking towards the kitchen and saying 'ama'."

Elizabeth wanted her husband to be right. She couldn't wait to hear Angie say the word. But she'd gotten over-anxious and been disappointed before. The previous week Joseph was convinced that Angie's repetitive 'ammy' was an attempt to say Grammy and after a day of insisting that was the case he almost had her convinced. That is until she watched the happy toddler address both her stuffed tiger and Smokey's water dish as 'ammy' as well and realized it was just another sound Angie has added to her vocabulary and was happily trying out.

She arched her eyebrow and Joseph chuckled. "I know. I know. I've been wrong before." He shook his head. "But not this time."

Elizabeth squatted down next to her granddaughter whose eyes lit up immediately when she spotted the pudding.

"Aaah ahh eee!"

"Who's that?" Joseph asked as he pointed at Elizabeth.

"Num!" Angie squealed as she decided to bypass the spoon and attempted to place her whole hand in the bowl of pudding.

Elizabeth smiled indulgently as Joseph's face sank when he realized that at least for the moment Angie has a one-track mind and that track was pudding.

When their snack was finished Elizabeth took the bowl to the kitchen to rinse and put in the dishwasher.

Angie watched until Elizabeth rounded the corner and was out of sight. 'Ama!" she called.

Joseph tickled her belly. "You're just teasing me now, aren't you, Little One?"

Angie attempted to stick a block in her mouth. "Baah ahhh."

"Come on." Joseph scooped her up. "I wanna make your grandma very happy and I need your cooperation," he smiled.

He took up a position behind the wall that separated the living room from the kitchen. He kissed Angie on the cheek then slowly eased her into the doorway while he remained hidden.

"Call grandma," he encouraged.

Angie giggled.

"Go on, sweetie. Call grandma," he repeated.

Elizabeth, who had heard the entire exchange, closed the door of the dishwasher and turned back towards the living room. She was just about to tell Joseph that Angie would say it in her own time when her beloved granddaughter thrust her arms forward and squealed "Ama!"

Elizabeth froze for a second then squealed herself in a tone Joseph would later describe to everyone as 'a pre-teen hopped up on the new BTS video and pixie stix'.

"Say it again," Joseph cajoled as he stepped into the doorway and saw his wife's beaming smile.

"Ama!" Angie squirmed to get down and toddled towards Elizabeth who picked her up and hugged her tight.

"Does it feel as good as you thought it would," Joseph asked softly as he watched his wife and granddaughter.

Elizabeth eyes met his. "Even better."

Several days later Joseph got to experience the same feeling when Angie added 'apa' to her vocabulary.

For so many years she had imagined what it would feel like to be a grandmother. Even though she wasn't sure she'd ever get a chance to see what it felt like first hand. She watched as many of her friends lived the experience. Listened to their stories of the glory of grandparenthood. The special bond. The love that was every bit as deep as their love for their own children and yet … different.

Bigger somehow.

Watching the children they'd spent so many years teaching, guiding, and worrying over grown into adults and embarking on the journey of raising their own children. Seeing both themselves and their children in the next generation.

It was heady stuff.

She'd watched some of her closest friends struggle to find the balance between trusted resource and meddling grandparent.

It was a fine line.

Wanting to be there to help every step of the way but at the same time giving the new parents the space they needed to develop their own parenting style which was essential.

And perhaps the hardest part-watching them make their own mistakes.

All parents made mistakes along the way. Heaven knows she'd made her share with Catherine. But perhaps the greatest gift Ang had ever given her was to step back and let her find her own way.

She smiled when she remembered something Ang had said to her when Catherine was only a few weeks old. "I want to be close enough to give advice when needed but not so close you trip over that advice every time you turn around."

It was that same kind of balance she worked hard to maintain between herself and Catherine. There would many obstacles to work through as Angie grew and she wanted Catherine to always see her as a valuable resource and not someone who tried to impose her own way of doing things. In fact, over the previous year she'd actually learned a lot from her daughter about what it meant to be a good parent. And she learned that her own opinion wasn't always right.

When Catherine had first announced they'd signed Angie up for swimming lessons at just a few months old Elizabeth was skeptical. She thought maybe Steve and Catherine were letting their own love of the water influence the decision. Angie was just a baby. She thought perhaps they should wait until she was little older.

Now she watched Angie, at fourteen months old, not only splash happily in her own pool but feel perfectly comfortable and at ease in the ocean being held by her daddy and she knew they'd made the right decision. Not only because Angie was clearly a water baby, but also as a safety issue, since she'd be growing up just steps from the ocean.

Her mind wandered to her many students over the years as well as the children in her tutoring programs. She'd loved watching them grown and learn. Watching their joy at discovering new things and seeing them build confidence based on the mastery of new skills. It was very fulfilling.

But it all paled in comparison to the joy she felt watching Angie taste her first lemon or try to follow a butterfly.

There's no doubt her life had been complete before she became a grandmother. She had a husband who was the love of her life and a true partner in every way, friends, family, a fulfilling career, a daughter and son-in-law she couldn't be prouder of. She was happy.

Truly happy.

And then Angie came along and filled a space she hadn't even realized was empty.

She took Joseph's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze as headed up the trail.

She was thankful they'd decided to make the move to the island because she couldn't imagine missing little moments like these. She breathed the morning air in deeply. A beautiful day spent with two of her favorite people and plans to meet up later at the beach house for a barbecue so she, Joseph and Ang could get a look at the obstacle course the Allen kids had helped build for Angie.

Suddenly Angie spotted a lizard and with wonder in her voice said, "Ama!" as she pointed as the creature skittered back into the bushes.

"I see, sweetie," she said as her eye caught Joseph's and she knew they were thinking the exact same thing.

It doesn't get better than this.

THE END

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