“I thought, ‘Well, what the heck.’ A lovely young lady messaged me. Turns out, her girls needed a grandma in their lives just as much as I needed grandbabies to love. She has struggles she is unable to disclose to her own mom, so I have become her confidant. All I ever wanted to be is a good mom, and an even better Grandma.”
‘It finally happened. I was introduced as her ‘new Grandma.’ My heart was so full. This is what I’d been missing for so long.’
‘I noticed an elderly woman sitting alone. My exact thoughts were, ‘Dang, I’d hate to have to eat alone’. I walked over to her and asked if I could sit with her.’
“She told me she lost her husband and that tomorrow would have been their 60th anniversary.”
‘This elderly man needed pain meds for his wife. The employee simply said, ‘It’s in aisle 6.’ He struggled to navigate the supermarket. I left all my groceries and took him there.’
“Today, I watched an elderly man who had obviously fallen, with a huge scrape and blood on his leg. He walked past people in the cafe, while he slowly made his way to his car. Not one person stopped. Or looked. Or acknowledged him.”
‘Hear me out, before you say anything.’ Those are the first words I heard. ‘It’s a girl and she’s due next month.’ I could barely speak.’
“My husband cut me off mid-sentence and simply said, ‘Yes, this is our daughter.’ Before we hung up, I could hear him telling everyone around him, ‘I’m going to be a dad.’”
‘Mrs. Morgan? We have a 3-year-old little boy in the PICU. He’s been here 6 months and needs a home.’
“‘6 months in the PICU! Why?!’ 3 months, because he was sick. 3 months, because no one would take him home.”
‘You know what I don’t remember about my childhood Christmases? I don’t remember anything being especially decorated.’
“I don’t remember Pottery Barn centerpieces or monogrammed stockings. I don’t remember Pinterest-worthy trees or anything that would make one declare, ‘That is so precious. I must Instagram it immediately.’ That all might have been there. But if it was, I don’t remember.”
‘I’ve actually heard my Grandkids calculating which Grandparent they can hit up for which toys for maximum impact. Our little angels are fully aware of our weakness.’
“When my girls were little, my parents doted on them shamelessly. Over-the-top-please-stop-you’re-ruining-my-kids doting. It made me nuts, but now I get it.”
‘We have been living with my parents for 3.5 years. Never in a million years would I have imagined we would move in with my parents, 2 months before the triplets were born.’
“Bringing in a very pregnant daughter, son-in-law and triplets was a lot to ask, and we knew that. My dad said, ‘This is an opportunity for me to be there for my grand babies, the way I wasn’t able to be there for you.’ I cried.”
‘When you’ve been around your family for your whole lives and then spend your first holiday without them, it’s a shock.’
“Our families aren’t millionaires and it’s unfortunate how expensive it is to fly during Thanksgiving and Christmas. We won’t have grandparents and cousins rushing through the door to greet us. I want it to feel special, despite the lack of loved ones.”
‘It’s 3 a.m. and you’d like a cookie? OKAY!’ It’s funny how my once-strict mother turned into the good witch from the Wizard of Oz, her tutu lined with snacks, the second her children were grown.
“I hear being a grandparent is the height of bliss. You get all of the benefits of enjoying children. You can spoil them rotten, discipline them rarely or not at all, and send them home to their parents as soon as you’re sick of watching Moana for the 82nd time this week. What’s not to love?”
