grandparenting
Both during and after raising our families, all have embraced opportunities to give back to the world. Two have served extensive medical missions in third world countries to teach med- ical staffs how to save newborn babies. One has served with her husband mentoring inmates at the state penitentiary. Many have served with their husbands as church leaders all over the world. They are writers and thinkers and full of stimulating ideas. Each has been a mentor in my life and taught me a lot about grandmotherhood. And all of them have great senses of humor. We usually meet for lunch and then take turns leading a discussion about our families, our grandchildren, and our recent favorite books. During a recent meeting, our hostess just hap- pened to have a small book sitting on her coffee table entitled, The Joys of Getting Older that she said she really liked. The endorsement at the top of the cover said, “An inspirational look at the beauty found within the Circle of Life.” The endorsement on the back cover read, “A straightforward, clear-cut how-to book for put- ting a spark (or two!) back into your life. It truly describes the magical beauty to be found in the twilight years.” The authors were Thomas and Cindy Senior and the back-cover synopsis reads, “Thomas and Cindy Senior are the best-selling husband and wife team who authored Retiring Gracefully . Here, in the tradition of their previous books, they have collected all the best advice and share their insight into how you can lead a happy and ener- getic life after reaching “that certain age.”
We didn’t get the joke until we opened the book. ALL of the pages were totally blank! When we quit laughing, someone seriously suggested that in response to that book, we go around our lunch table and each contributes what we do love about growing older. HERE IS OUR LIST OF THINGS WE HAVE LOVED AS WE HAVE AGED: • GRANDCHILDREN (this one had to come first and it came up over and over in different contexts) • More time, freedom • My progeny: children and grandchildren. Watching them grow and having fun with them. • Changing… I can finally work purposefully on ways to improve • The chance to be reflective • Being able to plan my own schedule • Feeling closer to my husband, and more time focusing on each other • Discovering the real purpose of life • Learning to be a thoughtful matriarch and a thoughtful, deliberate grandmother • Experiencing simplicity • Having time to count my blessings every day • Becoming less critical and more empathetic • Feeling the power of friends supporting each other • Being a cheerleader for my posterity—espe- cially those grandkids • Cutting out things that aren't important • Realizing that age is liberating
• Finding time for family history • Having more time for my own siblings • Being peers to my daughters and daughters-in-law. • Having time to think about each precious soul in my stewardship. So even though we may have issues about get- ting older and friends who are facing physical difficulties like knee and hip replacements or are suffering from serious issues with family members like cancer, dementia and even Alzheimer’s, we can remain optimistic that there are multitudes of things to be grateful for as we grow older. I chal- lenge you to make your own list. You might be surprised at what you think of—and how many times you think of your grandkids. I have loved that quote from Martha Washington (see previous page) since I was a young mother and find it now even more import- ant as I deal with the ups and downs, crisis and joys of grandmothering.
Richard and Linda Eyre’s parenting and life-balance books have reached millions and been translated into a dozen languages. As fellow Baby Boomers, their passion and their writing focus has now shifted to the joy of Grandparenting. Linda’s latest book is Grandmothering , Richard’s is Being a Proactive grandfather , and their latest co-authored
book is Life in Full. All three of these are now on sale on Amazon.
38 GRANDP arenting
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