“This isn’t a house, this is a place you are very much at home.”

I wrote that late at night. The grandkids were asleep in their beds. It was after Christmas Day and before New Year’s Eve. The missus and I were exhausted from almost five straight days of grandkiddom — ages 10 months, almost 4 years and 10 years old. Their parents were upon a much-needed vacation. The house had been broken-in good. For a born neat-nick, I should have been upset and frantic. I wasn’t. I was tired and at ease in the way children hit you when they’re asleep and look to the world like angels. I knew there was a chance I would not survive the morrow, but I was content in the reverie of a moment’s peace before the baby cried, the 4-year old jumped onto the bed and the ten-year old reported how the refrigerator could work better. Everything was okay. If I woke in heaven, that was a good thing. If I woke in bed, there was always a repairman. Right?

I did wake – right here at home.

The kitchen faucet broke as the parent’s plane landed at the airport.

With damp feet, we waved goodbye and wished all a very Happy New Year.

We cried as the car drove off.

At a friend’s house for New Year’s Eve, we played a game. Each of us wrote down on a slip of paper a New Year’s resolution for 2015. We folded the secret wishes and gave them to the host. One at a time, a paper was read. We all took turns trying to guess who wrote that one.

In an way, I was pleased when no one guessed mine.

“Spend more time with the grandkids.”

That’s my resolution for 2015.

Almost everyone else had travel resolutions.

I wonder if we’re going on vacation.

Will it be the the two of us?

There are some very nice things about cruse ships.

One, they come with their own repairmen.

And two, the last port of call is almost always close to home.

Have a good start to the New Year, don’t sweat the small stuff and have fun with the kids – whatever their ages.

Grandpa Jim