CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE GRANDMA'S SOUL
CHICKEN SOUP
FOR THE
GRANDMA'S SOUL
Stories to Honor and Celebrate
the Ageless Love of
Grandmothers
Jack Canfield
Mark Victor Hansen
LeAnn Thieman
Backlist, LLC, a unit of
Chicken Soup for the Soul Publishing, LLC
Cos Cob, CT
Contents
Babies, Boredom and Bliss
Janet Hall Wigler
By Any Other Name
Carol McAdoo Rehme
A Grandmother Is Born
Sally Friedman
The Longest Week
Teresa Pitman
She Looks Just Like . . .
Margaret Lang
Someone's Grandmother
Valerie A. Horner
A Grandmother Again
Harriet May Savitz
What Will I Call You?
Ruth Hancock
Love at First Sight
Laura Lawson
Loving Lauren
Rachel R. Patrick
And Then There Was Hailey
Patricia Lorenz
Oohoo
Debra D. Peppers
One Lonely Little Boy
Roger Kiser
The Lincoln Zephyr at Midnight
Kathryn Kimzey Judkins
The Fabric of Love
Deborah Shouse
A Legacy of Love
Libby C. Carpenter
My Official Storybook Grandma
Michelle Rocker
Deposition Stew
Bobbi Carducci
Thanks
Stephen D. Rogers
Aunt Tooty
Elayne Clift
If It's Tuesday
Alice Malloy
A Day at Grandmom's House
Harriet May Savitz
This Ain't No Bull
Joanie Gilmore
Everything but the Kitchen Sink
Nadia Ali
Trying Times and Dirty Dishes
Cynthia M. Hamond
A Thank-You Note to Grandma
Gina Antonios
A Holy Moment
Sheila S. Hudson
Grandma's Prayers
Sharon Ozee Siweck
Angel in the Clouds
Jean Kinsey
Parting Gifts
Marcia Swearingen
A Teenager's Song for Gramma
Angela Thieman-Dino
Love and Water
Emily Sue Harvey
The Perspective of a Pansy
Laura L. Smith
Red and White Carnations
Barbara Hibschman
The Feeling
Ellie Braun-Haley
Picked Just for You
Bonnie Hanson
Shiny Red Shoes
Bettye Martin-McRae
Monday Night Tea
Delores Christian Liesner
Outing with Gram
Delores Christian Liesner
Grandma Days
Maria Harden
Afternoon Delight
Diane M. Vanover
Two Dedicated Grandmas
Janet Lynn Mitchell
Go-Cart Grandma
Patricia Lorenz
Surf's Up, Grama
Pam Trask
Grandma and the Snow Bank
Ann Kirk Shorey
Grandma's River
Melodie Lynn Tilander
Journey Home
Renee Hixson
Travels with Grandma
Phyllis W. Zeno
Going Places
Carolyn Mott Ford
Will He Remember?
Maria Harden
5. THROUGH THE EYES OF A CHILD
Love Never to Be Blinded
Nancy V. Bennett
Pennies from Heaven
Emily Erickson
Dusting in Heaven
Denise Peebles
Healing
Jennifer Oliver
I Will Remember
Shelley Ann Wake
Love's Labors Found
Sally Friedman
God's Hands
Shirley Pope Waite
God's Good Time
Cynthia M. Hamond
Jenny's Antique
Harriet May Savitz
Sandwich Generation
Tricia Short
Secret Weapon
Jennifer Oliver
The Wooden Spoon
Beverly Houseman
Out of the Mouths of Babes
Jane Elsdon
Granny's Journey
Ruth Hancock
Confidence
Jody Walters
The Pine Tree
Kimberly Ripley
Grandma's Cake
Norma Favor
Frozen Water . . . Melted Hearts
Cheri Lynn Cowell
Nana
Susan Farr-Fahncke
Grandmother's Quiet Addiction
Nancy V. Bennett
Like the Turtle
Erin Hoffman
Nan
Rachel Wallace-Oberle
Gram's Garden
Paula Mauqiri Tindall
Digging in the Dirt
Linda Apple
The True Lesson of Homework
Sally Friedman
I Can Make It Grow
Betty King
Motherhood 202
Nancy Gibbs
Unexpected Gift
J. Kenneth Kreider
Grandma's Attic Treasures
Anne Johnson
A Quilted Life
Julie Dunbar
Sister Said
Jean Jeffrey Gietzen
Gifts of the Heart
Renie Burghardt
Marking Time
Shirley Jump
Green Ink
Laura Smith
Timeless Generosity
Patti Lawson
Grandma's Surprise Party
Stephanie “Stacy” Thompson
A Grandmother's Gifts
Sally Friedman
Star of the Week
Bonnie S. Grau
My Present
Barbara G. Drotar
Grandma Wanda
John McCaslin
Rocks and Restoration
Kathleen Craft Boehmig
Grandma's Words
Laura Mueller
Grandmother's Language of Love
Trudy Reeder
Gutsy Grandma
Karen J. Olson
Treasured Gift
Cookie Curci
More Than an Heirloom
Susan Chesser Branch
A Leap of Faith
Hannah Amgott
The Locket
Tal Aviezer and Jason Cocovinis
Grandma's Necklace
Carol Spahr
A Sister's Visit
Paula Mauqiri Tindall
The Wrecking Crew
K. K. Choate
When our children left the nest, we breathed a sigh of relief for a child-rearing job well done. Thankfully that reprieve was short-lived, for just when we thought we could never love another as deeply as our own, our child places their child into our arms . . . and the lay-down-my-life-for-you love starts all over again. Nothing in this world can prepare us for this moment, and nothing can compare as this child of our child steals our breath and our hearts. Then we watch as the baby's great-grandmotherâour motherâ embraces this miracle, bearing witness to this ageless mystery of maternal love. Happily we resume the work of caring for a childâbut this time with less stress and even more fun! The dance of life goes onâthe family circle grows.
Chicken Soup for the Soul
applauds how grandmas bless all our lives, and we are honored to bless theirs. These true stories bring hope and happiness to those who caress us, not only with their hands but with their hearts.
Chicken
Soup for the Grandma's Soul
celebrates the love and joy only a grandma can know. Whether she's rocking or rock-and-rolling, knitting or surfing, hugging or hiking, every grandma will find herself in these loving, laughing, even life-saving stories.
On behalf of all the lives they've touched and changed forever, we say thank you!
S
oon I will be an old, white-haired lady into
whose lap someone places a baby, saying,
“Smile, Grandma!” I, who myself so recently
was photographed on my grandmother's lap.
Liv Ullmann
W
hen a child is born, so is a grandmother.
Judith Levy
“We're not going in there, are we?” I asked, appalled, looking inside the baby store my friend was determined to enter. I'd come a long way to visit . . . hundreds of miles, and she wanted to shop in a baby store? Quite frankly, I found those kinds of stores boring, the way I found most babies boring. I'd never been accused of being enthusiastic over little creatures who couldn't walk, talk or do anything except scream, make a mess and demand all of one's attention.
Turning on the well-worn heel of her running shoe, my friend shot me a steely look. “We won't be long,” she promised, striding into the store.
Unhappily I trailed after her.
She's changed,
I thought grumpily as I stifled a yawn and tottered through the crammed aisles on my high heels.
Definitely changed,
I thought sourly as she spent the next two hours oohing and aahing over everything to do with infants until I thought I'd go insane.
What can I say in defense of my once-glamorous friend, who now smelled of spit-up and stumbled tiredly through the store misty-eyed with joy?
She'd become a grandmother.
That fact was responsible for her gleeful preoccupation with the world of little things, the reason she didn't have time to dye the gray in her hair, the reason she'd traded in her classic clothing for jogging gear, the reason she didn't seem able to talk about anything. Except babies. And most particularly, one little grandbaby.