Grandma's playlist: Unconventional songs for my sweeties

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songs for grandsons

When my husband and I planned our wedding thirty-three years ago, settling on our wedding song was a no-brainer: “Thank You” by Led Zeppelin it simply had to be.

The pastor who would conduct our coming together as one didn’t agree. At all. In fact, he flat out told us, “I will puke if you play that for your wedding.” I kid you not.

As my hubby-to-be and I still hoped the potentially puking pastor might still preside over our marriage ceremony, we agreed...

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Compassion and the boy I've failed to tell you about

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Not long after our youngest daughter had settled into the college life, Jim and I decided to add another youngster to the family. As females dominated our family for years (even our two cats were females), we decided to go with a little boy.

compassion child

So ten years ago, years before there were grandsons—heck, before we even had our first son-in-law—Jim and I adopted Erick. The

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Once more through my mother-in-law's window

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"Think for a minute, darling: in fairy tales it's always the children who have the fine adventures. The mothers have to stay at home and wait for the children to fly in the window." 
― Audrey Niffenegger, The Time Traveler's Wife

 

Jim and I, along with Brianna and Andrea, drove to South Dakota Sunday to attend...

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Bagpipes for a brother-in-law

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Jim got the phone call yesterday morning that his brother-in-law had passed away in his sleep Monday night. Richard had battled health issues for a very long time, so the news wasn't surprising. It was, though, heartbreaking.

Jim and I last saw Richard and Sue, Jim's oldest sister, in November. We're deeply grateful for that...

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Saturday movie review: 'Unfinished Song'

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Vanessa Redgrave and Terence Stamp star in a lovely, poignant film that deserves far more attention than it's been given. UNFINISHED SONG is a 2012 movie that never played in my town, possibly never played in yours either. It's now playing on Netflix Streaming, though, and I urge you to add it to your queue. Heck, don't just add it to your queue — watch it this weekend!

 Unfinished Song

UNFINISHED SONG was originally titled "Song for Marion," which seems a far more appropriate title. Vanessa Redgrave brilliantly plays Marion, the terminally ill...

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Holiday highlights, plus GRAND Social No. 137 link party for grandparents

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Holiday highlights

As some of you know, I was a little concerned about how my Christmas holiday might play out. Why I worried at all, I don't know. Considering I have pretty much the best daughters — and a pretty darn awesome husband, too — I should have known everything would turn out exactly as it should. For me, it turned out nearly perfect. The only way it could have been better would have been for my grandsons and their parents to have been here, too.

Here are some highlights of the holiday time with some of my favorite people — and pets — in the world:

christmas 2014 collage

For two full days, my nest was...

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