The girls are now counting sleeps and days until they go home. It was just awhile ago they were counting sleeps to come to Monkey and Toad’s. Memories have been made, time has been spent and we have felt the love. Last night we went to see The Lion King. Grampie and Emma sat at the back and Paige and I sat near the front. The beauty,the soundtrack and the story of course touched us all. On the way home Emma asked” When will I go from being Little Toad to Middle Toad?” She thinks she is not little anymore and was negotiating a name change with her grandfather. I suggested Teen Toad when she hits thirteen. The girls discussed this categorizing the teen years. Settling on being Teen Toad from thirteen to nineteen. At that point Grampie said” You won’t still be coming when you are nineteen.” Both girls shouted” Yes we will ” in unison. Although we doubt that, it thrilled us both to hear it. Yesterday Em announced her wedding would take place in New Brunswick.At supper Paige talked about moving here and trying to convince her parents to do so. Our time together is not geared for brainwashing with the end result of getting our daughter to come back home but our granddaughters definitely feel the tug of the East Coast so I guess that is a positive side effect.There are less sleeps before going home than the sleeps they have already had at Monkey and Toad’s this summer. Paige told her mother last night that the weeks go by too fast. So do the years by the way. Teen Toad and second Teen Toad will be here before we know it . These days will vanish onto the pages of my journal and into our collective memories. The circle spins and the love is felt and for that this grandmother is filled with gratitude ( a bit of exhaustion ) but so much gratitude.