Grandma’s Brag Book—Part 2

On Cinco De Mayo Day 10 years ago, Erin Elizabeth was born. You may remember that Sam had named her Kudos before she was born but luckily Erin became the name she was known as (unless you ask her Dad what her name is—he lovingly calls her Boo or Boofer). For about the first 4 years of her life, she was a “girlie girl”, pretty in pink, into Princesses etc. Then athletics took over her life. First it was soccer, then softball, then basketball. And Grandma couldn’t be prouder!!! Erin just made Team One Travel Soccer for her age group for the city of Twinsburg this summer. They are tearing up the league and just last weekend won three of four games in a tournament where Erin not only played goalie part of the time but also scored 2 goals in one game.

On her 9th birthday when I asked Erin what she wanted for her birthday, she said that she wanted to spend the day with Grandma and to pick out her own birthday present. Thus began a tradition. I gave her a billfold with her birthday money in it and she and I hit the mall. We had a blast and it was a great lesson for her in managing her money. This tradition has carried over to Sam as well. This past summer instead of going on a one day shopping trip, Erin joined her grandpa and me on a 2 week trip to San Diego to see her Aunt Karen, Uncle Michael, and her cousins, Noah, Ethan and Luka. It was a great reunion as she hadn’t seen them since they had moved to California the previous September. We kept busy going to the 4th of July fireworks, the beach, Torrey Pines, Balboa Park, the SD zoo, Coronado, Lego Land, and Julian where she toured a gold mine and panned for gold. She missed out on going to Mexico because she got sick. Luckily Uncle Michael is a doctor and he knew what to do to get her better fast.



One time she asked me if I had freckles like hers when I was little. I told her I sure did. There is a saying, Erin, "A face without freckles is like a night without stars." Erin is so much like I was at her age. She reminds me from time to time, with a big grin on her beautiful face, that she is my ONLY granddaughter. And if I am only blessed with one granddaughter in my life, then I couldn’t have gotten a better one.