Close to Nowhere

I have several relatives who have recently become grandparents for the first time, and a cousin who has become a great-grandmother! It’s incredibly amazing for a cherished grandchild to give you a great-grandchild. I can’t even tell you unless you have a grand or a great.

The only nephew on my side of the family recently had his first grandchild. My favorite memory of Bubba (Gene Jr.) is when he was about 4. We still lived in Memphis, Tenn., and I was babysitting my sister Peggy’s kids while she was out escaping from her four children. I kept finding Bubba in any one of the bedrooms jumping wildly on the beds. Later that afternoon, he fell on the sidewalk and skinned his knee.

When daughter Dana and son Kris skinned something, I’d put a Band-Aid on it, and everything was instantly healed.

So, when Bubba skinned his knee, I slapped a Band-aid on it and thought that would be the end of it.

Oh no! He cried like he’d broken his leg. The skinned place had bled, but not horribly. I hadn’t even worried about it until he kept crying. By the time Peggy got back I had Bubba on the couch watching cartoons with a Coke and he was still whimpering. Even his three sisters were getting kinda worried.

Peggy almost died laughing. It was the Band-Aid. She had four little ones and if she’d Band-aided every hurt they got she’d have had to buy stock in the company. She didn’t put a Band-aid on anything that didn’t need an emergency room. Poor little Bubba thought his knee was a horrible mess because I’d slapped a Band-Aid on it.

Bubba and his wife Melanie just had their first grandchild. They have four children and Bailey, a middle daughter, is the same age as my oldest granddaughter Merideth. Bailey and Merideth also have a cousin their age, Emily, my niece Sister’s daughter. Those three were thick as thieves when they were younger. Now, all three are mamas. It’s hard to imagine those little troublemakers as responsible parents.

Couple weeks ago, Bailey and Mic’s son Tripp was born, a couple weeks early. Tripp did it the hard way. He was born with the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck. He was rushed immediately to the Children’s Hospital in Little Rock, Ark., a couple hours from where Bailey and Mic live.

That little fellow had a rough week or so; cooling blankets, ventilator, heating blankets, feeding tube, etc., etc. etc.

Rarely do babies born with their cord around their neck do well. Cerebral palsy is a devastating and life-threatening problem for these babies.

Nowadays, with MRI’s etc., doctors can tell how much brain damage there is to a baby born this way. Miraculously, little Tripp has a very tiny area of brain damage. He is at home and doing very well now.

I think Bubba would appreciate a Band-Aid right about now. He’d know I was trying my best to make it better.

Linda Jones of Laws Hill is a former staff writer for The South Reporter. She is retired but continues her weekly column.