There I was celebrating my 44th wedding anniversary by babysitting my four grandchildren. Okay, I’m old and this is very tiring… but it is the happiest time of my life these days.

It has been said that a grandchild fills that empty space in your heart… that you never even knew you had. I’m blessed with four rug rats and the fifth is on the way. My son Jason and his wife Dr. Jessica Aun are expecting a little girl in October. I’ve already nicknamed her “JJ,” no… not for Jessica and Jason but “Jessica Junior.”

That breaks the stalemate and once again we guys get the short end of the stick. Despite the fact that my 3-year old twin grandsons, Yogi (aka Cameron) and Spike (aka Keenan) were politicking hard for a boy, our next grand will be the girl that forever breaks the tie.

I’ve tried to reason with them that this is just the first of many times in their lives that the opposite sex will out vote them. Get used to it boys.

So, I accidentally booty dialed Ashley (which she explained was really butt-dialed not booty dialed) to sing happy birthday to her. She’s hot stuff now; she has her own cell phone and she is not even a teenager yet. Go figure.

It seemed like just yesterday when we both fell asleep in the rocking chair, her tiny little hand encircling my pinky finger as I rocked her to sleep for our afternoon nap. Each of us had a sublime look of peace and tranquility on our face as we snored away. At least that’s how it looked in the photo her mom Casey took of the two of us.

I am not real sure what all the duties of a grandfather are. One thing for sure, nobody calls me grandpa. I’m known as Jiddy, the Lebanese word for grandfather. It’s a lot more fun to say and it was the first name all four mastered when they spoke their first words.

The hardest thing about being a grandfather is you have to sleep with a grandmother. Grandmas can be brutally honest. Two grandparents were sitting in church when the old man admitted to silently breaking wind. He turned to his wife to ask her advice. She responded “Put new batteries in your hearing aids.”

One old timer had his grandson on his lap and the child said “Grandpa, can you make a sound like a frog? Mom says as soon as grandpa croaks we’re going to Disney World.”

I remember my granddaughter Ava asking me a question, “Jiddy, did God make me?” I responded “Of course.” She asked “Did he make you too?” Again I said “Yes.” She then commented in matter-of-fact way “I guess he’s doing a better job these days.”

Some people grow old rather gracefully. One such man was my old high school football coach J. W. Ingram, who was like a grandfather to me. Before he died, I would visit him in his nursing home in Lexington.

Even in his 93rd year he had a sense of humor. “The nicest thing about living here?” he quipped one day, “I only have to know one joke.” One often told story by one of the female tenants was her comment to her dance partner: “No… I said I have acute angina.”

I first met my old friend Emmy Award Winning writer Gene Perret (who wrote humor for Bob Hope and Carol Burnett), some 40 years ago at a National Speakers Association meeting in Phoenix, AZ. He once wrote “My grandkids believe I’m the oldest thing in the world and after three hours with them I believe it too!”

No, grandparents do not call you “honey” because they can’t remember your real name. And being a grandparent is the consolation prize for not killing your kids.

What do I like most about being a grandparent? I finally found someone who likes my boring stories.

So what is the most romantic love story of all? It was not about Romeo and Juliet who died together but the one about grandma and grandpa who grew old together.

Michael Aun CSP,  CPAE,  Speaker Hall of Fame, was chosen a “Legend of the Speaking Profession®” in 2009 along with the late Zig Ziglar.