Ed Welch's Grandchildren

"Hi, my name is Ed. Do you want to see pictures of my grandchildren?"

No one wants to be a cliché—unless you are a grandparent. The moment it happens there must be some kind of neurological circuit, latent in us all, that, once triggered, emits a standard behavioral package: you are compelled to show pictures to whoever makes eye contact with you, you have the gift of baby interpretation that allows you, and no others, to hear your designated grandparent name in every coo, and you have absolute confidence that your grandchildren are, in fact, the brightest and most beautiful, which means you also have insight into the exaggerations of other grandparents when they boast about their grandchildren. If you happen to preach or teach, you will insert a grandchild story, whether it fits the context or not. And you love it.

This neurological circuit has kicked in with me twice so far (which, at least at this moment, is one more than David Powlison, but who wants to be competitive about such things.)