Grandpa’s Girl

When I married Dan 21 years ago, I had two sons and a daughter from a previous marriage. Dan had never been married and had no children. He was better to my kids than their own father had ever been – especially to my daughter, who was fifteen at the time.

A few years later, my daughter became a mother and we became first time grandparents.

Dan and I were in the delivery room with Jennifer when Genevieve arrived. They stayed with us for nine months, by which time Grandpa’s shoulder had become Genie’s go to place, in good times and bad. After Jennifer and Genie moved out, they were often back to spend time with us. Genie was always excited to see Grandpa and would spend hours entertaining him while she searched out and played with the many ladybugs in our garden. She soon became his little ladybug. 🐞

When Genie was about nine, Dan and I went on a vacation to Ontario. While we were at Niagara Falls, Dan got his one and only tattoo – a small ladybug on his left shoulder – as a reminder to Genie that no matter how big she got, he would always have a place on his shoulder for her.

When Genie saw Grandpa’s ladybug, she decided that when she was old enough, she would get a ladybug to match – to show him that she would always be there for him as well.

A couple of years ago, I was able to arrange for Genie to get her ladybug tattoo on her sixteenth birthday. Our tattoo artists do not typically work with anyone under eighteen, but my boss’s son agreed to do this one for Genie.

Genie turned sixteen on Christmas Eve. Unfortunately, we could not make the tattoo happen right away and by the time we were able to, Covid-19 had temporarily closed all of our tattoo shops. Recently, they reopened and Genie was one of the first in line to book an appointment.