Grandma's good fortune

I reside at the far end of "fortunate" when it comes to being a long-distance grandma. Reason being that despite my grandsons living more than 800 miles away, I get to see Mac and Bubby several times during the year.

I fully realize that is more often than a lot of long-distance grandparents get to see their sweet ones. It's even more often than PawDad, my partner in grandparenting, gets to see his grandsons.

How and why I've gotten so lucky is beyond me. Visits with my grandsons in the past couple years — pretty much since Mac was born — usually close with me unsure of when I'll get to see them again. Then somehow the semi-miraculous occurs and I end up with an unexpected trip to the desert landing in my lap.

Well once again the semi-miraculous has occured. This week the flight details have been finalized, the reservations have been made, and I'm off to see my grandsons midway through October.

As I considered the timing, I quickly realized that October isn't one of my favorite months just because I have few celebrations to plan, but more so because I've had the privilege of seeing my grandsons every October since Bubby was born.

There was last October, when PawDad and I visited together — then I went again alone two weeks later:

 

And the October before, when Megan and the boys visited our house (and we all visited the North Pole):

 

Plus, in October 2010, the month we learned Bubby would be a big brother, I visited sans PawDad:

 

And October 2009:

 

And, of course, there was October 2008, Bubby's very first October:

Yes, October is a very good month for visiting grandsons. I look forward to adding October 2013 to the list.

Did I mention my amazing good fortune?

Today's question:

What month for you features more time with family than any other?

8 ways to tell a grandchild 'I love you'

Sure, you tell your grandchildren “I love you” each time you end a telephone conversation or hug them goodbye. Here, though, are ideas for expressing the sentiment at other times in extra-special, unexpected ways.

Chalk it up. Turn the tables on chalk drawings and make one for your grandchild instead of the other way around. Grab some sidewalk chalk and cut loose with a heart-filled message of love your grandchild will see — and appreciate — next time she visits Grandma’s house. Long-distance grandmas can take a photo of their chalk masterpiece and send via text messaging, Facetime, Facebook, or e-mail. Or go the old-fashioned route and print it out then pop it in the mail.

Set a date night. Institute a standing special evening, weekly or monthly, with your grandson or granddaughter. Ideas for your time alone are unlimited: dinner and a movie; taking a class together; hitting the gym; attending a concert; playing at the park. Mix it up or make each date the same. Having several grandchildren make for a full calendar — and full hearts for all, too. Facetime, Skype and Google+ chats/hangouts save the day (and date night) for long-distance grandparents.

Make a mix tape. Okay, it’s not really a mix tape you’d be making, but compiling a playlist of songs that make you think of your grandchild then burning it to CD relays the message o’ love just as effectively (and emotionally) as cassette tapes of days gone by. It’s unlikely your grandchild will listen to your compilation on a CD player. That's okay, though, as it’s simple for him or her — or Mom or Dad — to pop the disc into a computer’s CD drive and transfer the songs over to iTunes or other audio programs for creating a playlist that will work in whatever high-tech way the kiddo chooses.

Crash the cafeteria. Surprise a grandchild by showing up at school to have lunch with her. She’ll be happy to show off Grandma or Grandpa to her friends, and even more excited to lead the way through the lunch line. Or consider bringing lunch to her, takeout or something from her list of favorite dishes made by Grandma. Whatever’s on the menu, be sure to get permission and clearance for the visit from parents and the school in advance.

Show up. In a vein similar to a cafeteria visit, consider taking time off work for a school (or preschool!) event you wouldn’t normally be able to attend: an awards ceremony, science fair, book fair, sporting event, performance, spelling bee. Show up unannounced — to the youngster, that is; again, get permission — and root for your little one. Be sure to remember the camera for capturing the ear-to-ear grins sure to follow when your grandchild spots you in the audience!

Blog about it — together. Create a private blog that only you and your grandchild (and Mom and Dad) can read and post on. All you need is a free gmail e-mail address and a few moments of time spent setting up a free blog on Blogger, making sure to mark the blog settings to be visible to only those invited. Even novices should have an easy time of managing a high-tech way of sharing news, photos, thoughts, concerns…and love. Little ones will need help from Mom and Dad to add posts, pictures and more, but older grandchildren will enjoy the challenge — and likely teach you a thing or two not only about blogging but also about themselves in the process.

Send them searching for it. Use Discovery Education’s Puzzlemaker to create a word search filled with all the things you love about your grandchild. Use your own title and input your own words for a one-sheet puzzle to print directly from the website for sharing with word-loving little ones — or big ones, too. Include an appropriate (and sharpened) pencil to double the fun. (And don’t forget to print out the key, too, just in case she can’t find all the loving words you set out to share.)

Just say it. Don’t reserve your “I love you”s for the end of conversations or visits; proclaim them at unexpected times, too: midway through reading a bedtime — or any time — story; via a midday text; at the closing of grace when sharing a meal. The time is always right to simply say, "I love you!"

Today's question:

How do you like to express your love for your favorite kiddos?

What I learned this week: Our voices matter

I used to sing, now I mostly whistle. For as long as I can remember, I've enjoyed accompanying music of all varieties, from big bands to little bands, from songs that rock to those that roll classically or otherwise. That accompaniment most often came by way of singing along.

Then I started losing my voice on a regular basis. Year after year — afteryearafteryearafteryear — I would get a bad cold that would quickly become laryngitis and I couldn't speak at all for days on end, much less sing. So I whistled.

Whistling came in handy when I had no voice, at least for carrying a tune. It didn't help a bit, though, when I needed to speak. For one long stretch of years, the years when I was a writer then editor at the newspaper, the loss of my voice every couple of months frustrated me to no end. I'd have interviews to conduct, people I'd have to speak to on the phone.

I'd gargle lemon juice in the morning before going to work, gargle lemon juice in the restroom at work, gargle it (or sometimes straight vinegar) before conducting an interview. The sour juices would cut through whatever rendered my vocal cords silent and and I could speak... for at least a few moments.

Sometimes, when the lack of a voice made it impossible for me to conduct my editorial business as I should, I had to ask my coworkers at times to return phone calls on important matters or I had to resort to emailing those who needed to talk to me. And this was before the days when folks checked their email on a regular basis — and long before texting was an option.

When my newspaper department was cut and my associates and I were left surviving on freelancing gigs, the loss of a voice still tripped me up now and again. I clearly recall one horrendous interview for a freelance article, a time when Froggy from Little Rascals had nothing on me and my croaking voice, yet the show, er, interview had to go on. I was so embarrassed listening to myself later as I transcribed that interview. So painful it was to hear, and so painful for my poor interviewee.

Soon after that interview, I started my blog. I've not lost my voice since.

As silly and new-agey as it may seem, I do believe in the mind-body connection, and the connection to losing my voice was this: I wasn't saying what I needed to say, the things I needed to let out, the things I wanted people to know about me and hear from me. My blog allowed me to make my voice heard. I was saying the things I needed to say, so no longer would I lose my voice.

Because I've been sick many, many times since starting my blog but have not once lost my voice, I firmly believe that through my blog I found my voice.

Through my blog others have found my voice, too. My voice seems to have resonated with the grandmas and others who have read Grandma's Briefs during the past four years. And this week I learned that my voice has resonated with others beyond grandmas, too.

See, back last year, there was a moment when I was incredibly frustrated by the manner in which I felt grandma bloggers were treated (or ignored) in the bloggy world. So I wrote a post about it, called it The Grandma in a Box. The post was so well received by the readers of Grandma's Briefs that I decided to enter it in the 2013 BlogHer Voices of the Year, which is a pretty big honor for the bloggers chosen.

And this week I learned that post of mine was named — out of the 2,600 entries — not only a Voices of the Year honoree, but the People's Choice selection in the humor category. (The other categories were Inspiration, Heart and OpEd.)

My voice... among the 100 chosen. My voice... one of four People's Choice winners. My voice... now officially a voice that mattered.

So unexpected, so humbling, so exciting.

All 100 bloggers selected in the 2013 BlogHer Voices of the Year — including several other midlife voices such as my Generation Fabulous friends Lois Alter Mark, Sandra Sallin, Janie Emaus (a Grilled Grandma!) and Shannon Bradley-Colleary — will be honored at the BlogHer conference July 26 in Chicago. The honor is a big deal, for me and for all the other bloggers named for their voices.

But the honor is a big deal for all grandparent bloggers, too, because my voice — a grandma voice — apparently mattered to folks who are not grandmas, folks who selected the Voices of the Year. Which is huge! That means grandma (and grandpa!) bloggers are finally getting noticed, finally being heard, finally, I hope, being let out of the box.

Not only does my voice matter, our voices matter. And that is what I learned this week, courtesy the 2013 BlogHer Voices of the Year.

I'm over and out for the week, but I look forward to seeing you again Monday here for the GRAND Social link party for grandparents. It's where you can share your posts — your voice — so I hope you'll join me.

Have a lovely weekend!

Today's question:

What did you learn this week?