The next big reveal, plus the GRAND Social

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Yesterday I lamented the fact my youngest grandson, Mac (previously known as Baby Mac), is no longer a baby. I'm delighted the baby boy has become a precious big boy, but I'm now wondering when I'll have another grandbaby.

I never thought I'd be a typical grandma like that, eagerly anticipating more grandkids. But there's just something magical about moments such as the one below — even when you're not the one getting the news:

 

In all sincerity, though, I intend to place absolutely no pressure on any of my daughters. Honest. The right time is the right time — and now is not the right time, for any of them. I can wait. I'll be patient.

In that vein, as I've always told my daughters, the key to patience is finding something to do in the meantime. What I'm doing in the current meantime is hosting another GRAND Social link party! Please join me!

link party

How it works:

  • All grandparent bloggers are invited to add a link. You don't have to blog specifically about grandparenting, but you must be a grandparent who blogs.
  • To link up, copy the direct URL to the specific post — new or old — that you want to share, not the link to your blog's home page. Then click the blue "Click here to enter" text below and follow the directions to add your post and graphic to the list.
  • You can add up to three posts, but no duplicates, please, and none you have promoted on a previous GRAND Social linky. And no contests, giveaways, or Etsy sites, please.
  • Adding a mention at the bottom of your linked posts, such as This post has been linked to the GRAND Social linky, is appreciated. Or, you can post the GRAND Social button anywhere on your page using the following code:

Grandma’sBriefs.com

<a href="/" target="_blank"><img src="http://grandmasbriefs.squarespace.com/storage/GRANDsocialbutton.jpg " alt="Grandma’sBriefs.com" width="125" height="125" /></a>

 

  • The GRAND Social linky is open for new posts through Wednesday evening, so please come back to see those added after your first visit.
  • If you're not a blogger, you have the pleasure of being a reader. All bloggers who link up would be honored to have you all — bloggers and readers — visit, read and comment, even if it's just "Hey, stopping by from the GRAND Social."

Thank you for participating in the GRAND Social!


What I learned this week: The momentum has shifted

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female soccer keeper

When my youngest daughter, Andrea, was in high school, she joined the soccer team. She'd never played before, not in earlier grades in school, not on club or park & rec teams. But in true Andie fashion, she chose the soccer team over the track team because her sisters ran track, and she was determined to do her own thing. Plus, she figured there'd be less running in soccer than in track.

Andrea was wrong about the running, but she was right about choosing soccer anyway, as that girl rocked the soccer field. She even chose to be goal keeper when no other girls on the team wanted the position, a position that eventually garnered her a spot — and a scholarship — on her college soccer team.

During her high-school stint on the soccer field, Andie's coach for the first few years was a young male teacher, not long out of college. His youth and enthusiasm for his job, for his team, for the game were a boon for the girls he coached. They absolutely adored Coach D. (His good looks had a wee bit to do with that, too, I assure you.)

Now, Andrea's high-school soccer team was not the best in the district. In fact, they were pretty far from it. But they had grit, they had dedication, and they had Coach D cheering them on.

Jim and I were fortunate to be able to attend the majority of Andrea's high-school soccer games. Many times, her team struggled to keep up with their opponents, often ending up on the losing end of the match. Sometimes, though, they'd manage to pull ahead.

It was during those initial moments of pulling ahead that Coach D's enthusiasm spilled over. "THE MOMENTUM HAS SHIFTED!" he'd shout to the sky, to those around him, but most importantly, to the girls. To which the girls would then run harder, faster, as they heard the sound of hope ringing across the field.

In every game, no matter how bad the beating seemed it might be, there would be at least one point where the exclamation would be made.

"THE MOMENTUM HAS SHIFTED!"

Every once in a while, the momentum would shift fully in the girls' favor, and Andie's team would come out the victors. Always a sweet victory indeed.

Ever since those days of watching high-school soccer games, hearing Coach D exclaim the moment of change indicating hope on the horizon, I've often heard his words ring out in my head — sometimes even spoken the phrase aloud or chuckled when Jim would say it at just the moment I thought it. I've heard it in my head at Andie's college games, while watching live or televised sporting events, when my daughters have overcome a challenge, when most anything in my life warrants the exclamation.

Well, this week, I learned this: The momentum has shifted... in my favor!

You see, the years since I lost my full-time job at the newspaper have been a heart-crushing struggle in a variety of ways, from trying to get books published — with my agent quitting the business midstream — to trying to keep my bank account filled with at least enough money to turn around and send it right back out again to pay the bills.

Many people have similar stories to tell, all beginning about the same time my financial woes began. The year 2008 and most since have sucked for a lot of us. I'm not unique in the challenges I've faced, I know. That hasn't really made it any easier, and I've wondered again and again when things would start trending up instead of continuing the downward slide.

Finally, though, it seems the downward slide has ended. In one small but significant way, the momentum has indeed shifted. Thanks to the copy-editing position I recently started — with much thanks to my online friend Carol — I'm finally able to see a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel, finally see hope on the horizon.

I must admit that this new position is not a high-profile one by any means, and it doesn't pay huge amounts. But it's enough to make a difference.

It's enough to give me hope.

It's enough to make me feel things are on their way up.

It's enough to make me say, with all the conviction of Coach D:

THE MOMENTUM HAS SHIFTED!

photo: stock.xchng

Today's question:

What have you learned this week?

What I'm reading... and 8 more books waiting in line

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stack of books

When I worked for the newspaper — before my layoff in 2008 that led me to be a full-time freelance writer and blogger — one of my very favorite things about the job was the semi-annual book sale.

Like every other media outlet in the country, my employer, the publisher of the daily news, received literally hundreds of books each year for review. Twice a year, all those review books (and CDs, too), were lined up according to genre on table upon table in the lower recesses of the building, put up for sale to the eager readers employed by the paper. Prices were 10 percent of the listed price, and all of the proceeds went to a local charitable organization.

Newspaper reporters, editors, designers, marketers, and more are word nerds and voracious readers, no doubt. Anticipation ran high as the book sale neared, and the lines formed hours before the doors opened and associates were allowed to peruse the piles, with a limit of ten per person the first time through.

As I said, I loved the book sale, and I always bought the max limit, often returning for seconds... even thirds, if any remained. I stocked my home bookshelves with more than a dozen brand-new books each time, usually for less than the price of a couple of hardcovers. I was in book-lover heaven. My heart swelled right along with my bookshelves.

Alas, as the adage says, "So many books, so little time." Though I've not been employed by the newspaper for more than four years now, haven't attended a newspaper book sale in even longer, I still have swollen book shelves with far more books than I've had time to read. Many of the book-sale books have not been cracked open since the day I pulled them from my book bag to show my spoils to Jim upon my return home after the sale.

Those books are not the only ones on my shelf. I've had a serious book addiction, and I have the bookshelves to prove it. Even now, as my funds have dwindled (the plight of a freelancer), I still get books on a regular basis — because bloggers are one of those media outlets that get hundreds of books a year for review. I don't get hundreds, but I do get a lot.

That said, I did recently purchase a book, something I've not done often since losing my full-time job. The book was Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, recommended to me by my Generation Fabulous friends. I devoured it, loved it, wished it wouldn't end. Then I passed it along to Brianna.

Next up were several books that I simply could not get into. I won't mention names, so as not to offend writers and the readers who love them. For each one, I'd try, I really would. But after several chapters, I'd find myself guiltily placing it atop the growing stack on and inside my night stand, telling myself I'll try it again another time. With so many books and so little time, I'm not one of those readers who commits to reading a book even if I'm not thrilled with it. Too many others await.

The Burgess BoysThe book I'm reading now — the one that I did manage to get through several chapters and am now nearly finished with — is one I received because I'm a world-renowned blogger. Okay, forget the world-renowned part, but I did get the advance reader's edition addressed to Grandma's Briefs.

The book — The Burgess Boys by Pulitzer Prize-winning Elizabeth Strout, author of Olive Kitteridge and Amy and Isabelle (which I loved!) — publishes March 26. It's one of those quiet, deep, family dramas featuring struggling protagonists with broken hearts and plenty of flaws. You can find out more by clicking the book graphic to the right.

My goal, when finished with Ms. Strout's latest literary tale, is to get through a few of the book-sale books that still remain unread on my shelf after all these years, despite having looked quite good when I nabbed them from the sale tables.

Here are the ones I have lined up, ready and waiting:

• The Way the Crow Flies by Ann-Marie MacDonald

• Visits from the Drowned Girl by Steven Sherrill

• No Ordinary Matter by Jenny McPhee

• A Spell of Winter by Helen Dunmore

• The Annunciation of Francesca Dunn by Janis Hallowell

• Dancing with Einstein by Kate Wenner

• A Mouthful of Air by Amy Koppelman

• Indecision by Benjamin Kunkel

Have you read any of those? I hope to soon, especially as those are just eight of the many books upon my shelf that are stamped inside the cover with Review Copy, designating them a book-sale find.

I'll just say I've chosen to savor my book-sale finds slowly and intentionally, to make them last rather than devouring them one after another. Telling you such a lie makes me feel far better about myself than if I were to truthfully tell you I'm simply no longer the reader I used to be. Or for me to admit that, when it came to those semi-annual book sales, I was powerless against my bibliophilic addiction, that my eyes truly were far bigger than my reading appetite, then and now.

Still... So many books, so little time.

Today's question(s):

What are you reading? And do you feel obligated to finish all books you start?