to the other grandparents

there is another couple out there who i don't know, but whose life will intersect mine in a powerful, beautiful and permanent way. i prayed for this couple last night. around midnight in my dark bedroom. and again this morning, shuffling through the sunrise behind closed blinds.

the parents of the person my child will one day marry. this child of mine that exists only as a dream. a recurring one, filled with images of sunbathed kitchens and crayons on the table. cartoons on saturday morning and pictures on the front lawn on sunday morning. this child that is still a few years away, but present on my mind.

what were they doing last night? are they married yet? will they marry? did he reach across the pillows last night and hold her? for my sake, i hope they have good genes. and teeth.

robert's mama wrote me a little note one time and said that she was praying for me as soon as robert was born. i love that idea. of praying for someone you don't know or haven't met yet. i prayed for robert before i knew him, too.

and i've never thought to pray for this other couple. down the road or across the universe. but, God willing, we will share the sweetest years of our lives together. we will sit across the aisle from each other in a little chapel. we'll sit anxiously in a hospital waiting room for hours, and then, we will become grandparents together. we'll share in holidays, birthdays and deaths.

i sometimes think about the fact that i'm going to meet someone who will change the axis of my world for the rest of my life, and i don't even have that person's name picked out yet. but somewhere there was a woman last night, and hopefully a man too, whose lives will also be changed. first when they have their baby, then when their baby meets my baby.

and the crazy, twirling, teeny tiny world spins madly on.