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Memories to Last a Lifetime
Our kids and their kids. Three generations. Our first extended-family vacation.
Four nights. Three days. Not long. But long enough for a vacation to remember.
We followed the children. We were children. We woke up at dawn. We leaped up. We smiled. We put ... read more
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Long Distance — No Distance
Time. Space. Miles. Months. For young children, these things do not exist.
Lucy and Adam are 4 years old now, not babies anymore, full of words these days, full of questions. “Want to play tent, Mimi? Want to go to the Dairy Barn? Want to get a ... read more
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The Gym Set
Building a playset and a bond, one small step at a time.
Day 1: There they are, outside in the freezing cold, the pair of them, Mutt and Jeff, father and son, putting together an elaborate swing set.
It came in three huge boxes and ... read more
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When Dresses Were a Sign of Love
Love — unlike mother and daughter dresses — never goes out of style.
I am 4 in the picture, my granddaughter Lucy’s age, sitting beside my mother, who is leaning against a boulder somewhere in the great outdoors. Scrub pines and scraggly ... read more
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A 4-Year-Old Ambassador Against Fear
Lucy doesn't know that she's an ambassador who is up against misinformation and trepidation.
This is what "internationally renowned" Sherman J. Silber, M.D., writes in his "completely revised and updated" book How to Get Pregnant, published by Little Brown and Co. in ... read more
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A Quite Nice Tattoo
Hearts tattooed with "Mom" are so yesterday. Hearts that show the world you're a grandparent? Could this be the future?
Rosemary and I have been friends since we were 7 years old — 54 years, half a century, which is a very long time.
We met in second grade. We know things about each oth ... read more
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A Perfect Love
When love in capital letters comes knocking at your door
Your whole life, all you hear about is romantic love. It’s the stuff of fairy tales when you’re young, and poetry when you’re older, and six-handkerchief mov ... read more
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Puppy Love
Dogged determination just might pay off
They won’t let me get a dog. “Absolutely not,” they chime, all of them, in unison, shaking their heads like members of a parole board.
They bring up my past ... read more
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Anti-Gramps
This grandfather has a soft side after all.
I call him, with affection, the anti-grandfather. I laugh when I say this but it’s the truth: My husband does not like children.
He’ll tell you he does. He’ ... read more
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Never Say Never
It's astonishing what we can deal with gracefully... when we have no choice but to.
"The tooth is missing. It will never come in. Missing teeth are common among children with Down syndrome," the specialist told my daughter and son-in-law months ago.
He didn' ... read more
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Not an End, But a Beginning
Finding a resurgence in motherhood — as a grandparent.
I found it in a card shop hanging on a wall.
It was six years ago and my daughter was newly engaged and I wanted something special to celebrate the moment. For this was my you ... read more
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A Grandmother's Love
A grandmother's love isn't one step removed but a grand love, a valentine in August.
I thought she was doing me a favor. All the times I would call her on the phone and ask, "Will you watch Robbie this afternoon?" or "Can the kids spend the night?" "Can you? W ... read more
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A Timeless Pleasure
Sometimes I pretend I'm her mother. That's OK, isn't it? Sometimes, when I'm walking my granddaughter all over town, I look up and see how much the town has changed in 40 year ... read more
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Modern Dads
We watch them and are amazed. They are like the Internet and Velcro and DVD players and cell phones, everyday staples that weren't even imagined when we were young.
My husband ... read more
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A World of Joy and Wonder
We called him Mr. Skeptical when he was born because he came into the world scowling and it wasn't just your typical infant "I'm hungry. I'm wet. Feed me! Change me now!" scow ... read more
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The Silliest Things
It is the silliest, most superfluous thing: a big, stuffed, udders- hanging, tan-and-white toy cow that does nothing. It doesn't moo. It doesn't give milk. It doesn't even twi ... read more
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Reopen the Door to Childhood
We play this game, my grandchildren and I. "How old are you?" I ask Lucy and Adam. And Adam shouts, “Three!” And Lucy yells, “Four!” and they hold up t ... read more
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Happiness in the Age of Innocence
They are listening to records, not tapes on a Fisher-Price tape player, not CDs on a small boom box, not music that you get at the press of a button.
They are listening to sma ... read more
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A New Baby Brings a Song to my Heart
Lucy is my first grandbaby, and her song just came. I didn't go looking for it. It found me. I was singing all the time back then, when my daughter was pregnant. "You Are The ... read more
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The Sibling Class
I grew up with some strange ideas, which I didn’t know were strange because it was the 1950s and there was no Internet and I had no siblings to set me straight.
For exa ... read more
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