grandparents

Becoming a grandparent makes getting older something to look forward to - all the fun of parenting, without the hassle.

The Open Door
It took longer to climb the stairs than he thought. His sneakers clapping against the wet stone. The clapping ended with three loud thuds and a deep gasp as he reached the last step. He tried not to think about how hard that was. Trying to brush off the fact that his body has run entirely out of air. He bent and grabbed his knees and panted. He felt like he was standing over a brush fire and inhaling its smoke. “This is what happens when you decide to follow the trail of a map you found on an old piece of paper that looked like it was scrawled by an old man who had a stroke”.
By Lorn Auros6 years ago in Families
"Find the Little Black Book"
The letter was hard to read. Handwriting that suffered an arthritis of not just age but of a hand that had spent much time with a pen in its grasp. Still, the message was clear. She was needed. So here she was. Here they were.
By Leah Parker6 years ago in Families
Tell Me About the Olden Days
Kara watched her grandfather surveying the field. He carefully pulled his tattered black notebook from the chest pocket of his work shirt. It was held together by a blue elastic, that stretched around the coupons and bits of paper that he had collected in his travels. He retrieved the stubby pencil that was behind his ear, licked the tip and opened the book to a blank page. He began making scratchy marks, quickly, as if he were trying to write something down quickly before he forgot.
By Reta Saborowski6 years ago in Families
What She Made Possible.
Cleaning out her grandmother’s attic wasn’t a task Solveigh felt cut out for. Losing a pillar of her family during a year where loss felt so ubiquitous – like it was always at her heels – was overwhelming, and this concrete task associated with the loss felt insurmountable.
By Murphy Barney6 years ago in Families
An Unimaginable Gift
“Are you ever going to open this thing? It’s been sitting here for months.” “I don’t know. I don’t know what’s in it, I might not want to know.” Carissa took the black leather-bound Moleskine from its spot on the desk, where it had been since her mother brought the small collection of her grandfather’s belongings that were marked for her. That had been nearly 8 months ago now, and almost a year had gone by since his passing. “Besides, what if Grampa didn’t want me to see it? It looks like some kind of journal. Maybe it’s private.”
By Erin Sitler6 years ago in Families
The Truth About Grandpa Eddie
The only thing that shocked Clare more when she learned about the passing of her beloved grandfather was being informed that he chose to leave her his Toronto bungalow. Along with the house came an abundance of accumulated boxes occupying nearly the entirety of the basement floor. Despite some hostility from his four other grandchildren, the legality of the situation deemed any objections futile, while Clare’s frequent phone calls and visits with one of her favourite people was proof that she had occupied a special place in his heart.
By Lauren Malton6 years ago in Families
Best left in the past
It was raining the day of the funeral. A huge blanket of swollen gray clouds was smeared across the sky, pelting fat drops onto my neon rainbow umbrella. This was my very first funeral, and it seemed every bit like it did in the movies. Everything was there; everyone was dressed in black, holding their matching black umbrellas, and it was raining.
By Sasha Beres6 years ago in Families
Reading the Full Story
In the recesses of her memories, Nana had always been cold. Condescending. Uncaring. Less grandmotherly than normal. Her mother would tell her that Nana was always like that, even before she was born. She would tell her that Nana had grown from a hard life into a hard woman and into a harder mother, with expectations put on her by everyone and everything. She had to be a good career woman, otherwise she wasn’t as good as the men and she had to be a good wife, otherwise she’d be left. Being a good mother hadn’t made the list.
By Tiffany 🌟6 years ago in Families
The Paper Thief
I crouched at the edge of the property. In front of me was a vast swath of land that led up to a large traditional brick manor. It's peaks disappearing into the grey clouded sky. I thought of the irony of the pathetic fallacy before me. My clothes felt damp on my skin from the drizzle of rain around me. I sat in silence, as I waited.
By Rachel McKenna6 years ago in Families
The Things We Inherit
"I wasn't even that fat. I remember feeling like I was morbidly obese or something. I was so cute. Right?” She flipped the photo around towards me with the motion of turning a car key. A radiant little girl with a bowl cut. She wore a striped tank top. I had already looked through the stack of photos before she got there. The thought of fat or skinny hadn’t crossed my mind. Just the compassion you feel when you see someone as an innocent child, and whose faults you experience on a daily basis as an adult.
By Rigo Bonilla6 years ago in Families
Death and Flowers
My grandfather had collected an impressive assortment of monsters in his lifetime, but none were as impressive as my mother, his eldest daughter. Even dressed for a funeral, she glided through the crowd like a graceful predator. And before I could edge further from the fray of condolence-wielding socialites, she pinned me with a sharklike smile. I froze.
By Linda M6 years ago in Families
The Stories We Do Not Tell
She dies on a Tuesday. Quietly; inconspicuously; just as she lived. Her husband calls their children to tell them. He never understood this strange woman who shared his bed, his home, who wore his wedding band for fifty-seven years. But he loved her. As much as he could. As much as anyone can love a person they don’t understand.
By Alexandra Kelter6 years ago in Families