h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

At the end of May my daughter-in-law and our grandson will leave to join our son in California.

Said son has now set himself up with a place to live and a car, and a cycle to get to work on. He has grappled with the Californian driving licence, tax and insurance matters, rent agreements and health insurance. The container with their furniture will arrive some time next month (was held up due to dockers' strike).

My husband, as described in another journal, is off for 2-3 weeks on a cycling trip to the End of the World. (Finisterre in Galicia)

We were trying to make the most of the final few weeks of little grandson, and they were visiting us regularly. They usually came at about 4 pm and gramps would push the pram around the village for a couple of hours, whilst daughter-in-law would get on with a little work and catching up with e-mails, etc. When I got home from work, we would play with the baby and have dinner together. Grandpa and he have got very close, in fact so much so that we could swear there was a quiver in my husband's voice when he said goodbye to his little grandson at the weekend.

So, when hubbie gets back from his cycle tour, he will see his little favourite for only 4 weeks before we are completely separated. I've never known him so emotional.

The other granddad is equally besotted - his face is radiant when he sees the grandson and can hold him for a bit.

I hope that we'll be able to see as much of our little granddaughter soon, too, and start a bonding process with her.

:-0

Sorry, I meant

Grandchildren are terrific. I can't imagine how cruel it must be to be separated from them by geography (or parents' divorce).

I'm enjoying my second childhood a lot!

Hubbie left yesterday for another cycle trip with his cronies and had to say goodbye again to the little one.

When he gets back on Sunday, daughter-in-law and grandson will be above the clouds on their way to San Francisco.

However, we have already made moves towards booking our flight over there in October. I have got myself 3 weeks' holiday.

We went to the local travel agents who is an expert on US travel and particularly loves the West coast. He has always organised trips for small parties and usually went along himself as a guide. The other grandparents often went on these trips so they know the States quite well, but we could never join them as they were always in school time.

So this will be our first trip across the Atlantic. The "other grandparents" are doing a very similar thing in August/Sept, so the travel agent has already done the ground work and found a hotel near the place where our children and mutual grandson live.

Little one was supposed to come and see me yesterday, but they had to call it off because he had a temperature. Could it be that he is finally teething? He's nearly a year old and doesn't have a single tooth yet!

His mother texted me this morning to say that he was now fine and had been for a measles jab and the one-year check-up and was fit to travel.

It's going to be a wrench for all of us.