Grilled Grandma wisdom: Leaving a legacy

/

Grandmothers strive to be a positive force in their families, make a difference in the lives of their loved ones in the (relatively little) time we have to spend with them here on earth.

Grandmothers also, perhaps even more so, hope to make a difference in the loved ones themselves — their character, personality, person — a legacy that lives on long after Grandma's gone.

I always ask Grilled Grandmas What do you most want to pass along to your grandchildren? Following are some of their answers.

grandma legacy 

Respect for all things, creatures and people, a love of learning, and a sense of adventure. — Gail

I want most to teach them that life is change; that change is not...

Read More

7 benefits of being a long-distance grandparent

/

I am a long-distance grandma. Have been from the beginning of my grandma gig.

The first few years I moaned and groaned ceaselessly about the miles separating me and my sweeties.

I'm now nearly nine years into grandmahood. In that time I've thankfully learned there is indeed — unbelievable as I first thought it might be — a bright side to my grandbabies living so far from me.

Following are a few such perks on which fellow long-distance grandparents just might agree.

long-distance grandparent 

 

ONE
Bathroom breaks at my house are a breeze. I never need straddle a step stool when using the toilet. Nor do I have to question who left the seat up as only two...

Read More

I say that shutting up is hard to do

/

Dear Mr. Sedaka,

You were so right. I know that it's true. Breaking up is hard to do. Especially for teens, when true love seems a fickle, heartbreaking foe.

I do know how difficult breaking up can be. I've been there, done that. Long, long ago, admittedly one of the billions of boomers who once sang away heartbreak blues crooning along to your catchy, comforting tune.

I'm decades removed from being a youngster longing for love. And in the years since breakups with beaus broke my heart, I've found something more difficult to do than breaking up, Mr. Sedaka. And that's shutting up.

Trust me: It's waaaay harder to do than breaking up.

I'm not talking about shutting up regarding social or personal injustice. No one should ...

Read More

Funeral finery

/
Funeral finery

My dad's funeral service was held last Friday. The Sangre de Cristo mountain range towering over Westcliffe and adjacent Silver Cliff — Dad's official town of residence — dressed in its most impressive best for the occasion.

Read More

7 things long-distance grandparents do that local grandparents don't

/

My name is Lisa and I'm a long-distance grandparent.

My grandsons live more than 800 miles away.

Following are a smattering of things — seven, to be exact — that I and other long-distance grandparents do that grandparents who live near their grandkiddos likely don't.

(Featuring photos from my grandsons' most recent visit in November.)

long-distance grandparents

SEVEN
Stock up on Priority Mail Flat-Rate shipping boxes.

The mailman delivers empty boxes to my house. Free...

Read More

My dad's obituary and the difference between big newspapers and small

/

My dad passed away Sunday evening. I got the call from my sister Debbie 20 seconds before the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Denver Broncos in Sunday's overtime game. I missed the field goal that put the win in the Chiefs' column.

Priorities.

daughter and dying father
My last photo with Dad, October 27, 2016

My dad was unexpectedly diagnosed with a relatively obscure cancer — myelodysplastic syndrome — the very same week last January that my dog Lyla was diagnosed with her brain tumor. Lyla passed a month later. It took my dad 10 months longer.

Witnessing Dad's steady decline from a hearty, humor-loving 76-year-old to a shrinking (yet still humor-loving) 77-year-old sucked for family. Even more sucky for him, as he was fully cognizant, fully aware of his wasting away, especially as the wasting accelerated to runaway train speed near the end.

I'm filled with sorrow at Dad's death. But that's unexpectedly balanced by my joy he's out of pain and distress. I have no doubt he's in heaven. I'm especially thankful he had no doubt that's where he'd end up, once again loving on his beloved...

Read More

Creating kindness in your life (Guest post)

/

Dear readers: This guest post was written by Kay and Leslie of GrandparentsLink, my fellow members in the GRANDparent Network. Considering the lack of kindness and compassion across our country the last far too many months thanks to the hostile political climate and anxiety following the election, the wisdom Kay and Leslie offer here is particularly worthy of reading, sharing, putting into practice.

heart

Creating kindness in your life

As grandparents, we want to inspire our grandchildren, and one of the best ways to do this is by "doing" simple acts of kindness. The old adage about "setting an example" certainly...

Read More

The very worst enemy

/

My husband and I have faced many a foe in the past few months. Hospitalization. Natural disaster. Unemployment.

None, though, have been as frustrating for my husband as the following, the enemy who most regularly gets my hubby's briefs, er, boxers in a bunch.

See for yourself:

squirrel on bird feeder
You thought you could stop me?...

Read More

Here and now: October 21, 2016

/

What's up in my world:

old time clock and book 

ON MY MIND...
Mail-in ballots. Voting used to be an event for my husband and me. Although we nearly always canceled out one another's vote on national elections (we did agree for the most part on local issues and amendments), we always — always — went to the polls together. Even if that meant rearranging lunch hours or heading to the polls early as can be, depending on our schedules when we both had full-time jobs. Going to the polling place was a big deal. We were proud to exercise our right and responsibility together, we delighted in sporting our I VOTED stickers afterward.

Now most of our elections are done via mail-in ballot. We both thoroughly

...
Read More

7 solaces in my sucky, stress-filled season

/

hope versus despair

My husband was laid off at the end of September. Again. It's been less than a year since we were in the same boat. Once again, we're worrying about paying for PLUS loans, prescriptions, and more. All because "the company chose to go in a different direction with the department."

Such circumstances stink. Even more so when additional stinky stuff was packed into the months between Jim's layoff last year and this year's job loss.

What stuff? you may wonder. Well, soon after my husband found a new job last fall — yeah, the job he just lost — one of my dogs was diagnosed with...

Read More