A - Z Blogging Challenge 04.08.2026

 

Happy Hump Day, friends!! It is 8:37 pm so it must be time for me to dash off some kind of A - Z post real quick before bed.  Then tomorrow and Friday, I have 2 regularly-scheduled blog posts in addition to this A - Z business.  Not sure I am going to be able to hold out for the whole month.  I keep thinking I will have time to write some posts ahead but that just isn't realistic.  My days are already really full without this added expectation.  And then again, if I quit I will feel like such a QUITTER.  What's a girl to do?

In this alphabetical series, today I am up to letter G.  The glimmers that begin with the letter G that light my life are my grandbabies.  Cadence Ellie, Lucia Carolina, Camila Jean and Declan Ashraf.  I could easily write pages and pages about how these babies bless my life but I am sleepy!!  So this is going to be a very condensed version of the many ways my grandchildren are glimmers.

G is for Grandbabies

None of my grands are actually babies.  But they will always be babies to me.  

Cadence

I was 52-years-old when I became a grandmother for the first time. Cadence Ellie was born in 2010, just 2 days before her mother/my daughter Brennyn's birthday.  What a gift she was!!  Brennyn christened me 'Mimi' rather than grandma or grammy.  I thought the name was cute and it was easy for Cady to say.  Now, they have all shortened it to 'Meem' and call me that most often.

Cadence is kind.  She has a very sweet heart.  Loves our Earth and worries for its future.  Cady leaves me notes when she comes to visit and having her sweet words to keep with me lessens the hurt of having to say goodbye. She lives on one side of the state and I live on the other...600 miles apart.  

This has been a big year for her, she's in 10th grade, 15-years-old, learning to drive, a photographer on the yearbook staff, taking classes toward a medical assistant certification.  She is making the best grades of her life in school with all As and Bs every marking period.  So proud of her. 

We have a running joke where I send her 'happy Hump Day' memes in a text every Wednesday.  I miss her every day and hate that we are only together a couple of times each year.  This last visit in March, Cady asked me to read to her.  What a wonderful ask that was.  She told me how she had never forgotten the book Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr that we read together a few years ago.  Be still my ❤️.

Lucia

My second grandangel Lucia came along in 2016.  She is my daughter Lauren's first baby.  I figured I would be Mimi to Lucia, too, but she had other ideas and named me 'Gabba' as soon as she could say the word.  The kids lived in Houston when Cia was born, then moved to Albuquerque and then home to El Paso.  Hallelujah.

At the risk of sounding redundant, Lucia is kind and gentle, too.  She is very aware of other people's (and animals') feelings.  She is a huge animal lover with her favorite animal being a kitty.  Lucia is extremely artistic and can draw anything.  Lucia is a straight A student but would rather draw than do about anything else. 

When she was little more than 3, she created a make-believe game that we would play in the car whenever I took her anywhere.  She called the game "Babies" and we would pretend to be the children in her daycare class. 

We often craft or draw or paint together.  Sometimes we play "Dress to Impress" together on our 'blah-blahs' - her word for her tablet when she was tiny.  Lucia has a beautiful singing voice and a spark about her.  

Camila

Cami Jean is Lauren's second daughter and my third grandangel.  She was born in El Paso in 2020 right before Covid kicked in.  I missed time being with Cami because that stupid pandemic and quarantine kept us apart.  

Guess what?  Cami is kind, too.  But Cami is very 'spicy' as her mom and dad put it.  She is a spitfire.  And we never know what Cami is going to do next.  She is very independent and knows exactly what she wants and where and when she wants it!!  

Cami is our resident diva.  Girlfriend was born wearing lipstick.  This girl knows more about skin care and cosmetics than I do.  She loves being a girl, loves everything pink and frilly and fussy.

Cami is in kindergarten, learning to speak Spanish in a dual-language program.  She is very bright and also likes to craft and color and paint.  But Cami is the queen of moves.  She is a natural dancer and acrobat. And very coordinated.

Declan

My grandson and our cherry on top.  Declan is Brennyn's second baby and my fourth grandangel.  And only grandson.  He is just what we needed to complete our family.  Declan was born in 2022, and as with the granddaughters before him, I was there for his birth.  

There are 11 years between Cady and Dec so they have both been a little like only children.  Cady is very good with Declan now and he adores her.  I am thankful they will have each other when they grow up.  Declan calls me 'Mimi' like his sister does and Cami calls me 'Gabba' like her sister does.  Brennyn calls me almost every day and we Facetime so often that Declan has become very close to me.  He likes to listen to my voice talking with Brennyn while he plays.  

This boy loves to figure out how things work.  He enjoys taking things apart and putting them back together again.  Declan loves trucks - especially the tow and garbage kinds - and is very much into dinosaurs right now.  Like his cousin Cami, both Capricorns, Dec is a bit spicy, too.  With his head full of hair, he made an excellent Elvis Presley on his first Halloween.  Declan is in a prekinder class at Kindercare where he goes several times a week.

Declan is silly, and loving and...yup, kind!! He can be a little shy and uncertain in new situations but always warms up quickly to all of us in El Paso when he visits.  He loves to play.  Play trucks, play magnetic tiles, play dinosaurs.  And Declan has a great sense of rhythm and enjoys music.  He is inquisitive and likes to learn.  Declan can be extra snuggly, too.

When I think about the many blessings in my life, at the top of that very long list are PC, Brennyn, Lauren, their husbands Mustafa and Francisco, and these 4 angels I am blessed to call mine.

Oh, and the poppies.  The poppies bring me joy, too.

Your Turn

Are you a grandma yet?  I tell you, it is the best 'job.'  I simply cannot get enough of my grandangels.  I miss them the minute they leave and can't wait until we are together again.  When all is said and done, I hope they will know how very much I loved them.

Well, it is now going on 11:00 pm and if I don't publish this post like right NOW it won't come out on the day it was intended for.  Hope you will stick around to see if I can keep up with this challenge!!  I need all the encouragement I can get.

Hugs and kisses,