Grand Magazine - July/August 2008 - (Page 47)

“What is greater than falling in love with your grandchild?” we can live our lives in meaningful ways. That we have meaningful work. “Why do people get old and lose their sense of vitality? They don’t have work. Work—that’s our ability to input in a positive way to other people, to the world around us. “Work and love. And what is love? Even with animals—One day, I suddenly felt a connection to my dog, another dimension to love, when I realized I knew what my dog was feeling! We open the door, allow ourselves to be taken to that place. “And now, I have a granddaughter to love. Falling in love with a grandchild has to do with getting outside of our boundaries of selfprotection. We rejoice in their freedom and spontaneity. Parents are more about ownership, which is negative, and responsibility, which is positive. But grandparents are free to rejoice in the child’s personal freedom. We love them, and, as grandparents, we allow them to manifest themselves for who they are. “I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to manifest myself at an early age. My parents were divorced when I was 5, and my wise mother enrolled me in an art therapy class to help me find a way to identify and experience, however imperfectly through this work, my grief. My teacher was Florence Zane, one of the pioneers of art therapy. “If you’ve seen your grandchild take her first steps, walking, ‘strungling’—that’s halfstruggling, half-lunging—toward you with delight, and then, suddenly, she turns and goes to mommy, and between mommy and child, you can feel the tangible force. What is greater than watching your own child in love with her child? In Valentina, I see my daughter, and I see my mother on my left, flowing through me to my daughter and my granddaughter; and I am at peace because I am a part of something larger than myself.” We asked what all grandparents can do to make the world a better place for the children we love. “We teach by modeling respect and gratitude; we can love and appreciate a child in a way that the parents themselves cannot do. On the whole, you don’t have to understand love; you just have to be there. In the most profound sense, then, grandparents are the peacemakers and the healers. “Wisdom, perspective, gratitude. Once you have that in your heart, you can heal the world.” G Peter Yarrow was interviewed in Portland, Oregon, by GRAND editor in chief Wendy Reid Crisp. “Fame has become a commodity in America.” JULY AUGUST 2008 GRAND 47

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Grand Magazine - July/August 2008

Grand Magazine - July/August 2008 Contents Grand View: Love Is All That's Left Isn't It Grand?: Reassessing the Postponed Life Grand Central Just So We Know: One Mixed-Up Lemon Long-Distance Love: Cuttings Ask Grand: Stuck on Stuff Grand Gestures: "Thanks for the Ugly Gift" Tips on Teens: All That Doesn't Meet the Eye Live Long and Propser On the Cover: Peter Yarrow Presents of Mine Thicker Than Water? Reunions: White Water, White Knuckles The Grand Gourmet So We Are Not Alone Looking Grand: Suit-Able Grandbloggers: Why Watch TV When We Can Talk? Grand Bazaar Resources Grand Finale: What Boat

Grand Magazine - July/August 2008

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