The Circle Changes

There is a strange thing about watching your child have a child.

For years,
you know exactly where you belong.

You are the one who knows
when they need to eat,
when they need to sleep,
when they have gone too far.

You teach them things.

You worry about them.

You tell them no.

You do all the things
that need to be done.

And then one day,
they are doing it too.

You watch them hold their own child.

You hear them say the same things
you once said.

Or perhaps you hear them say
something completely different.

Either way,
you recognise something.

Not just the child in their arms,
but the person they have become.

And perhaps this is where
grandparenthood begins.

Not with having to do everything,
but with finally having time
to simply be there.

To read another book.

To play another game.

To let the afternoon become
as long as it wants to be.

You get to be the person
who can simply enjoy the moment.

The person who says yes
a little more often.

The person who remembers
that none of this lasts very long.

Because the circle changes.

The child you once carried
now has a child of their own.

Their centre has moved.

And yours has too.

Not away from them,
but outward.

There is suddenly
another little person to know.

Another childhood to witness.

Another relationship
to grow into.

And somehow, 
the family you thought 
you already knew 
has become something new again.