He weighed 8 pounds when he was born. I know, I was there.

He had blond hair and piercing blue eyes. I know, I was there.

I’m the grandmother of that little bundle of joy. He looked around the delivery room at Daviess Community Hospital and didn’t cry, but gave everyone a hard look including his mother and me.

That sweet little boy is now a 210-pound, 6-foot tackle on the Fort Wayne Concordia High School freshman football team. He still has blond hair. It’s darker and longer, but the blue eyes are the same.

He spent the first four years of his life in southwest Indiana with his mother, living not far from his grandparents. The next 11 years have been spent in northwest Indiana with his mother, stepfather and little brother, far from his grandmother.

Watching him grow up from a distance has been hard in some ways and a blessing in others. We’ve been able to stay close, and I think a lot of that has to do with the distance. Spending a week at grandma’s house is a treat that we both still enjoy.

Letters and packages through the mail have kept us close, as have numerous telephone conversations and at least six visits by me to Fort Wayne a year and several by his family to Washington.

Last week I was lucky to be able to visit on a Thursday — freshman football night. Watching him play was heart-wrenching as he reminded me so much of his late grandfather when he was playing football at North Side High School also in Fort Wayne. His physical features are different from my late husband who was dark, with green eyes, but he’s built a lot like his grandfather who played guard on the Redskin team.

Hayden (that’s his name) hasn’t been able to play football for the past three years as he went through a cancer scare and three surgeries. So he was nervous this year getting back on the gridiron, especially at a new school where he didn’t know many people.

And at first it was hard. He had to learn a lot of things, and he worried that he’d never make the grade. Those worries are behind him as he finished his sixth game yesterday. (Their record is 3-3.) He’s not just playing offense as he was when the season started, but he’s also on the defensive line and occasionally gets the nod to play fullback when they want somebody to power the ball across the line.

He just learned that six freshmen will be dressing for the sectional and he’s one of them. That’s something he didn’t expect but really welcomes.

It’s tough being the far-away grandma as my younger grandchildren have taken to calling me. I have an 11-year-old granddaughter and a 6-year-old grandson, as well as Hayden’s 4-year-old brother. I’m glad to be able to say I’ve seen all of the granddaughter’s ballet recitals, been to every Grandparent’s Day for all of them and have been to at least one game for every sport they’ve played. (Except the 4-year-old who’s playing soccer this year, but I’ve got a few weeks left to make it back up there.)

One good thing about living 5 hours away is every time we’re together is a very special time and I tend to be very generous with these children in the time I have with them.

As they get older I find myself more and more wishing I lived closer, but it doesn’t look like that will happen soon. I’ll just count on my two daughters and their husbands to make sure I’m involved in their lives even from 5 hours away.

nPat Morrison, her dog, Katie, and cat, Kitty Wizard, all live in Washington. She’s currently working at becoming a lay minister in the Presbyterian Church.