Stone Soup by Jan Eliot for September 01, 2015

Again, it’s never easy to be separated from grandparents.

Poor Alix! She’ll come around! :)

Skype doesn’t give hugs…but at least it’s there. Please Jan, give Alix something to be positive and smile about OK??

Evie has a point, but man….maybe she could stick around and take up roller blading or snow boarding instead.

My grandparents were snowbirds. They lived in Arizona in the cold months, then spent half the summer living in a 5th wheel camper in our back yard, the other half in my cousin’s yard (an hour drive away.) It was WONDERFUL having them there for three months straight. I loved their stories told over and over, playing cards, and their interest in all of us kids. We hated to see cold weather coming because it meant grandma & grandpa went back to Arizona. We learned to write letters and make taped missives to keep in touch during those months. When grandma passed away, we found that she had kept all of them from all those years. Ahhh, the love of a great grandma!

I love this family. Thank you Jan.

I had the GREATEST Gommie and Gompie! Gommie taught me how to grow a garden and make chicken and noodles. Gompie showed me how humor cures nearly all ills and was my WWII Navy Hero. Their picture sets in a prominent spot in our house, their memory rests in my heart.

Aww, all grandparents are great, no matter what they do on a regular basis! They just love their grandkids!

Not really.

My own grandparents all gone never did what Evie is doing. My own mom and dad now my mom never did that with her grandkids do not go around has no electronics gets too boring for them. For me learned to bring books to read as my mom cannot read, rather live I the past.

Yes, she would like a normal grandma. Not having had grandparents nearby, I can attest to the value of having a “normal” grandma around all the time.

Just because you mom was an emotional burn out does not mean she did not love you. I have seen the county take kids away from parents that abused sustances, but were always there for them. Being in the system is almost always worse than being with a loving parent or relative. The child always knows what is going on, putting them in a new situation can make them victims of other wards or of the caregivers themselves.

AT LAST!! Got through the entire month of August without those boring, pointless strips on loving August.

Alix is handling this better than she did when Evie moved to South Africa with Arnold. That time she burst into tears. Here, she’s just a little resentful and annoyed. If the time comes when she gets an invite to Africa, then she’ll be glad that she has a super cool grandma..

Good thing they have Skype to communicate with. Arnold was very thoughtful to do that.

Evie will be chewing yak hair to make felt for the yurts.