Ripple effect

One of the questions I regularly ask the Grilled Grandmas is "What do you most want to pass along to your grandchildren?". I'm continually impressed by their thoughtful answers because in considering that question myself, I find it difficult to narrow it down, to sum up in a few words what I want the sons and daughters of my daughters to have and to do and to be.

I want to pass along to my grandchildren so many things, some that I have, some that I don't, some that I wish I had mastered.

I want to pass along the traits of faithfulness and thankfulness. I want them to know they’re loved and worthy and important. I want them to have memories of incredible moments and the motivation to create more. I want to pass along a love for themselves as well as a love for others, regardless of how alike or different others may be. I want to pass along the desire — and the ability — to make the most of the gifts they have been given.

I want to pass along to my grandchildren all that and more. Ultimately, though, what I most want to pass along to my grandchildren is life and all the beauty and blessings and potential wrapped up in that. I want them — my extended family — to be and to continue to be. To continue the family line, the family tree. I cringe at the idea that everything Jim and I put into the family we’ve created could have ended with our most immediate progeny. No, I want our family tree to have strong roots and abundant shoots going forward, and for those roots and shoots to make a difference in the world.

I want the lives of my children, my grandchildren, my great-grandchildren and so on to matter and make a difference in the world, partially to better themselves, to better the world around them. But in all honesty — and in all selfish realization — I also want those things partially so my life will have mattered, to know that I made a difference.

I have no illusions that I’ve shaken the world up in any way. I do believe, though, that through my children and their children and their children, my jiggles and jerks from beginning to end have had and will continue to have a ripple effect. My words, my actions, my love have touched my children, who then have gone out into the world and touched others with their words, actions, love. Then the ripples continue as those touched in turn touch others, matter to others, make a difference to others. My ripples grow larger, wider, eternal. That won’t happen if the family doesn’t continue, if life is not passed down, again and again and again.

Yes, I want to pass along love, independence, fortitude, passion, compassion, sympathy, empathy and more. Those are the things of life, of living. For better or for worse, those are intertwined with pain, heartache, fear, longing, loss — life’s unsavory bits that make what's on the other side of the coin all the more sweet and appreciated and worth every utterance of gratitude and thanks.

So, regardless of reason, justification, or explanation, when I truly consider what I want to pass along to my grandchildren, the bottom line is this: I most want to pass down to them life and the gumption to make their fair share of ripples — possibly even a big splash now and then, too — with that life.

Photo: stock.xchng/biewoef

Today's question:

Whose ripples from the past continue to impact your present?

8 ways the iPhone makes this grandma smile

This is the iPhone 4; I got the cheaper iPhone 3GS.I got an iPhone a few weeks ago. I think I'm in love. It makes me smile. Here's how:

One: The speaker phone is 2.3 billion times better than the one on my last phone (the speaker phone I never even figured out). It makes phone calls with Bubby much more fun...and understandable. And especially easy when Jim/PawDad wants to join the conversation.

Two: Apps, free apps, and more apps.

Three: It's fodder for long discussions with Brianna and Andrea. Who both have iPhones. Who both are much more savvy with their iPhone than I am with mine. And who both recommend awesome free apps for me to try.

Four: My iPhone helps me track my calories in hopes of looking and feeling better by the time I head to BlogHer '11. Via a free app Brianna recommended, called LoseIt. So far, so good. Of course, it's only been four days since I started using it, but it makes me smile when I'm below my allowed calorie count for the day. (We'll just ignore here the day it made me wince and whine as I was 883 calories over what it should have been. Darn cupcakes!)

Five: Bejeweled 2. On the phone. Need I say more? No, but I will anyway. You'd think I would play Scrabble or do crosswords or some other word-y time killer, but when I have a moment to de-stress and waste in a game, I want it to be mindless and wordless, as words fill my day from morning to night. Bejeweled has no words...unless you count the times the guy says "Excellent!" because I've made an excellent move. Which I do often. Because I'm awesome at the wordless game. And I can knock out a level or two in the time it takes the pasta to boil while fixing dinner.

Six: I now have (free) shiny, happy ringtones and text tones for people. Blues-y notes are Jim; Andie's are happy-go-lucky; Megan's include a bicycle horn each time she texts; and Brianna's ring — which makes me chuckle every darn time — is a robot voice that sounds just like her when she calls with her chirpy-chippy-chit-chat. Music to my heart each time my loved ones call...or text.

Seven: Less than 30 minutes after Mac was born, I had photos of him on my iPhone. Okay, my iPhone had nothing to do with it, as I would have gotten the same photos on my old phone, too. But Preston has an iPhone, which made it easy for the doting dad to take and text photos of the newborn. And that made me smile...even at 3:40 a.m. (Mountain time). And made me thankful for iPhones, even when they're not mine.

Eight: Even though my iPhone had nothing to do with getting the photos of Mac, it made a world of difference in my ability to forward those precious photos to Brianna and Andrea. And to Jim's phone. Even at 3:40 in the morning. Without my glasses on.

See? Lots of smiles that little more-expensive-than-I-expected-because-I-need-a-large-data-plan gadget brings. And this is just the beginning of the love affair! I've not yet even traveled with the thing, but I can just imagine the joy when I use a mobile boarding pass, check flight status in an instant, and keep tabs on my e-mail — and blog — without ever having to open my laptop (or depend on spotty airport Wi-Fi).

Consider, too, all the smiles there will surely be when I share with Bubby all the apps I downloaded just to impress and entertain him when I visit.

Yep, my iPhone just may turn out to be this grandma's very best friend.

Disclosure: This is not an ad, not a sponsored post, not anything more than my honest opinion. I love my iPhone...and no one has compensated me in any way for saying so. I wish they had. Maybe they should.

Photo © Apple

Today's question:

What is something you wish your phone could do, realistic or not?

Grilling the guest

I once was approached by a woman I'd never met, online or off, who asked if she could write a guest post for Grandma's Briefs. Other than a guest-post trading stint featured as part of a SITS activity, I had never published guest posts here. Funny thing was, I was swamped and in desperate need of help. So I said yes, Grandtravel was published, and a stranger named Mary had saved the day. End of story.

Or so I thought.

Not too long ago, I was contacted again by Mary, with an idea for another post, wondering if I might want to publish it. Again, she had come along at exactly the right time, exactly when I needed her. I published Grandparents can be fun AND consistent, and once more, Mary — now no longer a stranger — saved the day.

That's still not the end of the story, though.

The rest of the story is that the guest-post-writing stranger named Mary, the woman who saved my butt the day...twice...is this week's Grilled Grandma.

You've read her articles on grandparenting (and if not, go ahead, read them, then come back). Now it's time to read about her. Please give it up—meaning the clicks and the comments—for Grilled Grandma: Mary, an online angel who somehow magically knew I needed her, even before I knew that I did.

Now that, dear readers, is the end of the story. At least for now.

Call for guest posts: I'd like to throw a guest post or two into the mix during the time I'm away meeting my new grandson. If you would like to submit a 300- to 600-word post on any grandparenting topic (no ads or promotions, please), please e-mail it to me by Tuesday, June 14 for consideration and possible inclusion. Openings are limited, but I hope to fit in a few. Thank you!

Today's question:

When has a stranger made a difference in your life?

Double takes and doppelgangers

When Bubby was born nearly three years ago, he weighed 6 pounds, 13.9 ounces and was 19.75 inches long.

When Baby Mac was born nearly one week ago, he weighed 7 pounds, 11.5 ounces and was 20 inches long.

You'd think the extra pound or so would make a difference in looks. But it didn't, not one single ounce.

As proof, get a load of this — Mac is on the left, and Bubby, at pretty much the same age and in the same baby seat, is on the right:

Non-twin babes can't look much more alike than that, I say!

Be prepared for the double-takes and doppelganger references sure to come, here on Grandma's Briefs.

Photo comparison borrowed from Megan's Facebook page.

Today's question:

Which of your family members look most alike (immediate or extended family)?

Coupon queen

Coupons are a hot commodity in my world. Sure, I use coupons for products when grocery shopping, but what I'm talking about here are coupons as gifts.

Somewhere along the line of rearing three daughters, creating coupons to be redeemed for good deeds and great times became a recurring gift, either from me to them or from them to me. Of those, I especially remember giving coupons for expensive jeans and athletic shoes that I surely would not pick out for a persnickety and brand-conscious teen daughter without her present to do the picking. I also recall often receiving coupons "good for one foot massage" (a popular one, as I do love me a good foot rub now and then).

As the girls grew older, their coupon gifts to me became more elaborate. Not all that many years ago, I received an entire book of coupons from Brianna, good for everything from dusting to dinner out to a night at the movies to — oh, glorious girl! — her to do the grocery shopping (my most detested chore).

There were so many good offerings, so many great intentions wrapped up in that raffia-bound booklet that I never got around to using them all. It was one of those gifts in which the thought truly was what counted most to me.

This past Mother's Day, Andrea proved that coupons still work their magic on Mom — even as my little girls are no longer little and head ever closer to 30 years of age.

Andrea's gift coupon was not so much an actual coupon this time, but a promise written in the Mother's Day card for a good deed to come. A handmade Mother's Day card. Made of quarter-fold construction paper written on just as my little Andie used to do, and it included a reference to one of the sillier cards she's given me in the past, one that makes me chuckle each time I run across it in the box I've filled with cards given to me throughout the years.

The good deed Andie promised for Mother's Day was a day of helping out in the yard, in preparation for summer. It's a gift I requested — and received — often for Mother's Day when the nest was still full.

Yesterday was the promised day, and what a busy day it was. Andie and I shopped for flowers then together we planted the many begonias and fuchsia in various containers and hangers on the patio. She bagged up piles of pine needles I had raked Saturday. And she helped Jim "plant" a humongous fallen tree...in cement...in our "tree graveyard" in the backyard (a long twisted story, one I'll possibly share another time).

Let's just say I got my coupon's worth. And then some.

The "then some" was that while Jim, Brianna, Andrea and I ate dinner on the patio, Andrea mentioned a coupon she had previously given me, possibly for my birthday last year. One for a pedicure that I had forgotten to redeem. So we made plans for redemption.

Which later got me to thinking: That pedicure coupon was rather old, but so are those remaining in "Mom's Coupon Book" from Brianna. Coupons for making dinner, giving back rubs, and even a few left for her to do the grocery shopping. Yessiree, I do believe it's time to finally cash in on one or two of those.

I must admit that during my time raising three daughters, I did a few things right. Teaching the girls to give coupons as gifts was one of them.

Not teaching them to include an expiration date on the coupon gifts was definitely another.

Today's question:

Question suggestions: Offer up any question, plus your answer, and I might use it in the future (I hated my original question today).