double great.

This afternoon, my mother, sister, myself and my somehow-ended-up-without-pants child drove down to visit Ethan's great-great-grandmother, Jennie. It's always been hard enough for me to find cards from adults to their great-grandmother but now we get an additional challenge as Jennie gets to tack another "great" onto her title.

My great-grandfather married Jennie when I was extremely young and so I never remember a time when she wasn't there as a grandmother figure. My great-grandfather, Nonno, is the man who Ethan is named after. Then there's the always eerie (but in a heartwarming way) story about how Ethan surprised us all by deciding to be born when I was only 36 weeks along right on Nonno's birthday. One of the last things Nonno ever said to me before he passed away was that I'd have a son and we would know that he was here with us when I did have my son. I guess it was Nonno's will, because my water broke and then Ethan made his way into the world at 11:45 p.m., with fifteen minutes to spare in sharing a birthday with Nonno.

It's always been hard to accept that Nonno won't physically be here to meet his great-great-grandson and get to snuggle and cuddle him. Still, I am thankful that Ethan gets the opportunity to snuggle with his great-great-grandmother because not many children are lucky enough to say that. He'll get to waltz his way into Nonno and Jennie's home and get greeted by an outpouring of love just like we always got to as children and for that I am so very thankful.