Looking to Tell Your Story

Did you ever buy a new car and then see it everywhere on the road? That’s the feeling I have now that I'm a mom again. I see grandparents with their grandchildren everywhere. At the park. The zoo. The fast-food restaurant. The doctor’s waiting room. I see couples, but more often just women, with children 40 and 50 years younger than they are acting like parents. Two women in the waiting room had a grandson each with them, taking them to see the doctor in the middle of the day. I listened to them and wondered-- are they parents again?

First Lady, “We got seven of them [meaning grandkids] now.”

Second Lady, “Seven you say.? We got—[long pause to count]—eight!”

Their tone was not that of the “traditional” proud grandmother who loves her grandchildren to death and can “send them home to their parents!” These were not grandmoms just out for an afternoon with the grandson, or just doing mom a favor because she has to work. Nope. Each woman was taking her grandson to see a doctor; they were taking on the responsibility of a parent.

Am I projecting my identity onto people who could be hired help? Maybe. But there's something about being a grandparent/parent that attunes you to others similarly situated. Maybe it’s the places I go lately.

I notice these family groups and I want to talk to them, get the story behind the public picture. I want to interview them for this Mom Again blog.

As I do talk to these second-time around parents, I will post the interviews here. Even if you are not a grandparent/parent (and don’t kid yourself that this will never be you: if you have children, it could be), it may be of interest to know what grandparenting means--at the ground level--in the 21st Century.

The first interview will be with my spouse, Dad Again.

If you are a Mom or Dad Again and you want to tell your story, contact me.

Here’s Looking at You,

Mom Again