My Grandson - An Update

Apr 17, 2007

Merry Winter to all of you. Will we ever see the sun again or feel its warming rays? That doom and gloom musing was intensified this past weekend as we made our way up the New York State Thruway to visit Dani, Erik and our new grandson, Ethan. We hadn't seen them in six weeks or so, away on our Florida trip. The weather reports crackled with the impending doom of the worst Nor'easter to hit our area in decades. Horrifying predictions of ferocious wind, flooding rains and multiple feet of snow filled the airwaves. But the cherubic vision of Ethan's face beckoned from the North Country and off we went, throwing caution to the wind.

It wasn't all that bad. Up there, at least. No wind, a bit of rain and a bit of snow. The bad weather came on our way back to the city on Monday. The damage of the eight inches of rain in the metropolitan area had taken its toll all the way down the Thruway. On either side of the highway where once there were the gentle Catskill streams, now there were terrifyingly raging torrents that had overflowed their banks as they rushed toward the Hudson. Creeks had become streams. Streams became rivers filled with turbulent, turbid water that continued to rise as the rain continued to fall. What should have been a three hour ride home became a six hour ride. Down near the town of Harriman, the Thruway traffic came to an almost dead halt as two of its lanes were closed, flooded with runoff. It took us half-an-hour to go just three miles and we had 12 miles more to go before the next exit. We calculated it would take us still another hour, at this rate, to reach that goal, so following the lead of other lawbreakers, we made a quick u-turn at a pass-thru in the guard rail and sped back to the previous exit. Here, we travelled south on Route 17, which runs parallel to the Thruway through the New York towns of Tuxedo and Sloatsburg before merging with the Thruway at the New Jersey border. But, to our dismay, Route 17 was closed just a few miles down the road and we took a 25 mile detour, heading west , then south, then east once again to join 17 below its flooded parts. Thank you GPS - our hi-tech navigation system installed in our Honda - which effortly showed us the way.

Once we hit the City, however, traffic was sparse and the roads clear. We guessed that the constant admonitions on TV and radio had taken their toll and kept people at home. A quick stop for a late lunch at Sammy's Noodle shop in the Village and then home to Brooklyn, safe and sound. Well, almost. Our house was not exempt from the days of rain - an inch of water in the basement and a renewed leak on the roof of the extention that's in the rear of our building insured that we would have some work to do in the days ahead.

Oh yes, the visit to Ethan. Two days with that little fellow certainly helped to reduce the angst of that travailed trip home. We couldn't stop talking about the changes we had seen in our little grandboy - the beautiful smiles that lit his face and which melted our hearts. And there had been such changes in his whole being -- his sense of himself and his surroundings, his sitting up without support, his recognition of mommy and daddy (those smiles again) and, we like to think, of us: grandma and grandpa. Two days was too short a visit. But the too-long-a-time between visits does allow us to more clearly measure the changes and the development of this little person. Its a wonderful thing to behold.

Here are some pictures so you, dear readers, can savor Ethan along with us. To you grandparents out there, we know you have a familiarity with the joy and happiness we feel in our grandson but also in our daughter and her husband as we watch them become parents.

Dani and her 6-month old Ethan. A big difference from the infant of a few months ago.

My daughter and her son.

The smile that repeatedly melted our hearts.

Nice face.

Grandma checks out her grandson.

A nice little package.

Apparently, Ethan feels very secure in his daddy's arms.

Finally! A picture of me and my grandson (courtesy of his mom). Any resemblance?