The good, the bad, and the fun of 2021

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The good, the bad, and the fun of 2021

It’s New Year’s Eve as I write this final post of 2021. With mere hours left before we collectively not only flip the calendar page to a new month but begin an entirely brand new calendar, I want to reflect on the good, bad, and fun of this past year.

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How to survive being a long-distance grandma to a baby

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How to survive being a long-distance grandma to a baby

I first fully grasped the definition of the word 'bittersweet' in late 2007, when I learned I was going to be a grandmother. I was thrilled to have a grandbaby on the way, but it literally hurt my heart to know I'd be only a minor player in the baby's daily life, due to how far away my new grandchild would live.

Yes, I was a long-distance grandma from the get-go. I’m still a long-distance grandma to the one who first made me a grandmother. To his two brothers, as well.

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Grandma's heroes: Where the boys are

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Grandma's heroes: Where the boys are

Kids across the country—and their parents and teachers, too—are celebrating the end of the most challenging school year ever. From pre-K to college age, students have survived a school experience not a single adult alive has ever had to muddle their way through, thanks to Covid.

Sure, parents and teachers had it rough (often beyond rough) making the schooling work somehow, some way. Yet no one over the age of 30 can fully comprehend how it felt and what it meant—and continues to mean—being a kid of any age enduring the wacked out way the 2020-2021 school year went.

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2020 Christmas

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2020 Christmas

I hope everyone managed at least a smidgen of comfort and joy during their holiday festivities. As with most families, Jim and I drastically limited our time gathering with our …

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Brayden, T1D, and a warning for grandmas

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Brayden, T1D, and a warning for grandmas

It’s taken me more than a month to figure out how to share this news. It’s serious and breaks my heart, yet I don’t want to come across as despaired. I hope to warn others but wish to not seem alarmist. And I want to share the challenge confronting my oldest grandson and his parents every single day forever going forward without suggesting I have any doubt they’re up to it.

My daughter, Megan, is so up to it, in fact, that she provided me the perfect tool by which I can share the news without racking my brain for the right words, right sentiment. That tool being the video below.

See, my grandson Brayden, the active and healthy 12 year old who first made me a grandma, who …

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Chopped!

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Chopped!

Well, I did it. I finally got up the nerve to get my hair cut. It’s only been <ahem> 8 months or so since I visited a salon.

I typically do go a very long time between cuts because, well, it’s just hair and ponytails are my friend. (Jim has no idea how lucky he is to have such a low-maintenance wife). This time, though, was an exceptionally long time from one cut to the next, thanks to Covid. First visiting a salon was impossible; now …

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Flat Stanley Part II

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Flat Stanley Part II

Flat Stanley Part II

Long, long ago in the pre-coronavirus days (okay, March 11), I published a post here on Grandma’s Briefs about the super time I had showing Flat Stanley around Colorado Springs. Camden had sent the character to me as part of a school project, with instructions for me to introduce Stanley — and ultimately, Camden’s classroom via a presentation by Camden using all the materials I collected for him — to the highlights of my city.

I did show Stanley the best of the Springs then returned him — and loads of literature and pics of his visit — just as instructed, for Cam to create his presentation.

Then schools closed.

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