We're going to a school concert tonight. I thought we were done with those, but then we had grandkids and, in some ways, the cycle has started all over again. Only better.

Meri is our third grandkid, our second granddaughter. She is a mild mannered girl, easy to get along with (her younger brother would dispute that. Once I asked him how to spell "annoying." He answered: "M-E-R-I." Brothers. . .) Meri's mildness has meant that she hasn't been great at competitive sports. When she was younger she played soccer. One of the kids on the other team took the ball as Meri was moving down the field. Meri looked at her mom and said, "Mom, he took the ball from me!" Mom answered, "He's SUPPOSED to take the ball! And you're supposed to go get it back!" Meri just doesn't have that sort of drive. (For some of her cousins that would be no problem at all. We do have some shinkickers in our family - some kids that wouldn't go after the ball, but pity the poor kid who took it!)

Meri could be a great teacher one day - patient, loves younger kids, and they relate well to her.

She is a tall girl. She's about 5'4", but she's only eleven. She's up to my nose now. Blond, but darkening to brunette. Beautiful, and a little conceited. Once, when she was getting ready for picture day at school, she looked into a mirror and said, "I'm beautiful." Not in a surprised way - sort of matter-of-fact about it.

She loves participating in these concerts - our young alto. Her grades have taken a quantum leap for this midterm. We couldn't be happier or prouder. So the proud grandparents will be there, watching the tallest girl up there and not knowing that anyone else even exists.

Ah, grandparenthood!