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It's been a huge week... I became "Gigi" last Saturday. My daughter gave me the name which stands for glorious, gorgeous, glamorous, generous, gregarious grandmother when she presented me with my first grandchild!
You're told how wonderful this event is, how different it feels to having your own babies, that it's better this time around. But I was unprepared for the enormous welling of emotion that engulfed me when I first held the exquisite SONOMA GRACE HANSEN.
And equally I was overwhelmed with gratitude and love for my daughter Gabrielle. This baby means so very much to her and to see her holding her own daughter to love and love and love, brought tears to both our eyes. Ever since Gabrielle was a toddler she 's wanted to be a mommy. When her little brother was born she had her own baby doll to bath and cuddle and feed. And while Gabrielle has been an academic achiever, carved out a successful teaching and media career, published books and done so much, all she's wanted from life was to be happily married and have a child. The joy on her face, watching her first tentative and tender touch of her newborn, will never leave me.
Sonoma is named for a place in California that's special to Gabrielle and her husband, Barrie. Grace is my mother's family name, all we girls have been called Grace (I'm actually Grace Diane, there's a family secret.) It's sad my mother didn't live to see her first great grandchild.
Sonoma has been born into a world in turmoil and I wonder where her future will take her and what roads she will travel. I pray she may experience a calm and gentle world, filled with flowers, animals, loving arms and kind hearts. That she may wonder at whales in clear water, polar bears safe in their icy world, that she will walk in untouched cathedral forests, understand and appreciate the simple and good things in life that come from giving and sharing and going without the material objects that can so needlessly dominate one's existence. I hope she gives back the joy she's giving us.
It's going to be a very wonderful Xmas because of the gift of Sonoma.
Di’s latest book The Islands, published by Pan Macmillan, is now on sale. |
