Todd and Zoe

The photo is of me and my granddaughter Zoe. Granddaughter you say?? No resemblance (because she is cute and I am an ogre) you say?? Aren't you like 35 years old, you say??

Well here is the confession. My wife has a few years on me, no biggie. She has two sons both in their early 20's. Zoe is the daughter of her son Bob. Bob is married to Summer. Both Bob and Summer are good looking human beings, hence the cuteness factor of their child. My wife had plenty to do with Bob's looks, she'll say. My wife is darling so I won't disagree. So Zoe is not blood related to me, and I've never had any kids of my own (and likely will not unless I father a love child a la Jesse Jackson some day -- my wife won't stand for that though so it's not really an option for me).

I wanted to post this because Bob and Summer had been living in Kingman since last Thanksgiving. Before that they were in Clovis New Mexico. Bob is a builder by trade (his father is a very successful builder in Kingman and Bob is doing a great job following in his Dad's footsteps). Zoe was born in Kingman and we were lucky enough to have her around untill Bob and Summer moved to Clovis for the first time in early 2005.

This past year has been a blessing watching Zoe learning to crawl, then learning to stand, now she is running around like you might expect a 21 month old would. She is just starting to say a few words. She's got Daddy down pat. Still a struggle for Grampa though.

Well, Zoe -- and her parents, headed back to Clovis New Mexico earlier this month. The more I dwell on this the more I realize how much I absolutley miss having Zoe around. She always made my day and it never was a burden to watch Zoe for her parents from time to time.

I thought it might be a bit weird to be considered 'Grampa', most of my longtime friends are my age at the most and they certainly had their day when they found out the news. But I can't begin to tell you how gratifying it is when Zoe pushes me off the couch in our little game we play. She gets a big kick out of it each and every time she does it. So much so that now she follows me off the couch after she pushes me, I have to be mindful because she goes over head down to the floor. I make sure I catch her.

I'm gonna miss that game, and I'm wondering what other games I'm going to miss out on. Zoe, Grampa loves you and hopes to visit often. Who am I going to watch football and hockey games with now?? (she is such a good kid that she lets Grampa change the channel off the kid's TV station to watch such events, God bless her)

I already miss you Zo Zo.