Grandchildren are like a Second Wind

Grandchildren are like a second wind: just when you think your body's done, you are gripped by a new flow of energy. Children are natural sources of energy; more often than not, they are the sources of energy we have forgotten.

I am reminded here of Jung's situation at a time in his life when he felt "stuck" in depression and uncertainty. A childhood memory surfaced; it was a vision of himself as a ten year old playing passionately with stones and mud, building castles and houses, gates and vaults. Jung remembered the fascination he had as a child with building blocks and recognized this fascination to be the creative life he has lost.

So what did he do?

He started gathering stones and rocks from the lake shore close by his house and he started building cottages, houses, stores, a whole village--in fact-- just as he did as a child. His conscious mind asked him, "Why are you playing such childish games? You are a grown man!" But he ignored this question that came from the censor and listened to his heart instead. He knew that this reclaimed fascination with rocks and stones was a call of inner necessity: he was reconnecting with his childhood, the source of his creative life.

And so it is with being a grandma.

Grandchildren turn you upside down; they push you underground so that when you surface again, you are connected to what's deep, true and joyful. Children have a way of doing that; they can't help it. And as grandmas, we have lots of opportunities for these underground journeys so we can bring back our notes from the underground.