I am a not-so-old, pretty princess. How’s that for self-affirmation?

This is not a sudden realization. It’s a quote from my eight-year-old granddaughter Ella. Let me back up a little.

I picked my grandchildren up from school for my daughter one day last week. Ella and her younger brother and sister were in the backseat. Mia, who is ten, was up front with me. When I have my grandkids, the pressure is always on to do something other than just go home. I decided to go through the car wash. This is literally a cheap thrill for them (and it gets my car cleaned).

Afterwards, we headed to Dunkin’ Donuts for coffee for me and donuts for them. (All right, who am I kidding? I wanted donuts, too.) Somewhere along the way, Mia told me something she had noticed about me. Something that I would just as soon have no one notice about me. Thankfully, it was just an observation about the way I look – at this season in my life, I can deal with that.

“Well,” I explained to her, “When you get older your body does weird things.” (How is that for the understatement of the year?)

Now, Mia loves me like crazy and about this point she likely realized she was treading on shaky ground. She said, “Oh, Grandmom, you don’t look old. You look like you’re in your forties.”

With that, Ella commented, “No, she looks like she’s in her thirties!”

“Wow,” I said, “that makes me practically your mom’s big sister. That might be taking me back a little too far.”

Ella replied, “I don’t know, Grandmom, but I think you look like a not-so-old, pretty princess.”

We left it there. It doesn’t get any better than that.

And, while I’m on the subject of my grandkids, as I write this I’m at my other set of grandchildren’s house while my son and his wife are away for a few days. It’s a school day, so we were up early. My seven-year-old grandson cuddled up on the couch under a blanket and asked if he could watch a show.

“Does Mom let you watch a show before you go to school?” I asked being fairly certain of the answer.

“Well, Grandmom, you’re in charge now,” he replied. They sure learn how to work the system early!