I’m not yet to the grandparent part of my life so when my niece Rachel arranged to stop by for lunch on her trip from Virginia to Maine, I was excited that I would get to meet Maeve.

Maeve Murray, Rachel and Barry’s daughter, is my first great-niece. We’d yet to meet, except on the pages of Facebook where I’ve followed her mother’s blossoming pregnancy, the hospital wrinkled face photo, and shots from major family celebrations. She is a blond beauty, in the Irish way. Blue eyes, a nose too cute to describe, and an attitude that says damn life is fun. Well, not the damn.

It’s hard to write about Maeve without feeling like one of those grandmothers who whips out her cell phone and runs through the 50 most recent photos. But, she’s just that delightful.

Before they arrived, I ran to the market because I realized I didn’t have little people food. I needed milk that wasn’t non-fat, American cheese for grilled cheese, animal crackers (the good Annie’s organic chocolate graham bunnies). I also realized that anything that resembles a child’s toy has long since left the premises. I dug out a stuffed Easter bunny–which turned out to be unnecessary because she was pleasantly absorbed by lining up Tupperware bowls.  And feeding cookies to my dogs–both the canine kind and some of the graham bunnies. The dogs were happy to accommodate her and apparently there wasn’t enough chocolate to do damage.

I can’t claim the cuteness factor, but I  had bright blond hair as a young child, blue eyes and a smile–and everyone said I looked like my grandmother Bridget Reilly Fitzgerald. Meeting Maeve, whose Irish grandmother still lives in Ireland, was a bit like making my own acquaintance–if my mother was as relaxed as Rachel and I was growing up in 2012.

At some point it clicked. What all these grandmothers get? It’s a chance to be you, from then til now. Who would have guessed that lunch with a two-year-old could be so profound?

p.s. Thank you Rachel for the visit … I was very happy to see you both. Apology for “borrowing” your Facebook photo. It was such a good time that I forgot to grab my cell phone for a quick shot.