Keepers-Of-Family-Traditions

Karen was off shopping. Usually I wait for her in the book section. This particular time, I found myself in the card section. Aisles and aisles of cards for every possible occasion and sentiment. One could buy cards for birthdays, anniversaries, new home-owners, holidays, and retirement.

There were cards that expressed a myriad of emotions: “Thinking of you,” “Sorry you’re ill,” “Our Deepest Sympathy,” “Congratulations.” Then I came across an entire section of cards devoted to grandparents.

Why, I wondered, should there be a nation-wide Grandparent’s Day? Why an entire section of cards reminding people to remember their grandparents? Are Grandparents now on the endangered species list? Is the older generation being forgotten by a younger generation?

Lydia Child penned these famous words: “Over the river and through the woods to grandfather’s house we’ll go.” In years gone by, our grand-parents lived within walking distance, or at least within driving distance, of where we lived. Not so today! Now we “visit” our grandparents via phone, or letter, or e-mail, or briefly during family vacations. Out of sight…out of mind. Perhaps the reason for Grandparent Day cards. Perhaps we have forgotten these very important people in our lives. So, we need a special day with special cards to remind us of our grandparents.

“The people whom the sons and daughters find it hardest to understand are the fathers and mothers; but young people get on very well with their grandfathers and grandmothers,” thus wrote Simon Strunsky. Grandparents are very special people, and play a very special role in our lives! Let’s remember them!

GRANDPARENTS are a source/resource of wisdom, knowledge and understanding acquired through years and years of living. They are a living library of our past, a key to our family’s history and tradition. Let us listen well to what they have to share! Let us learn from them!

GRANDPARENTS are the Keepers-Of-Family-Traditions. Grandpa and Grandma hold in their “memory banks” the memories of past birthdays and anniversaries, stories of mom and dad and uncles and aunts and cousins, memories of who did what and when and where, stories about family happenings, memories of growing up in an age long-past. Listen well to their stories! For just as they have passed on the family traditions to us, so in the not-so-distant future, we will be called upon to pass on those traditions to children yet-to-be. Remember the Keepers-Of-Family-Traditions!

GRANDPARENTS tend to be more objective when dealing with family relationships. Grandma and Grandpa can view family happenings through the lens of years of experience. Grandparents, therefore, tend to be more understanding and compassionate of both their children and grandchildren!

Stephen Vincent Benet wrote: “The trees in the street are old trees used to living with people; family-trees that remember your grandfather’s name.”

Cut down any tree and one will find the rings detailing that tree’s lifetime.

One can read a tree just as surely as one can read a history book. As we drive down the street to the old family homeplace, or down a country road to the old family homestead, observe and listen to the trees. Those old trees recall the olden days when our grandparents were young, recall their laughter and sorrow, recall their growing pains, recall their failures and triumphs. If those trees could remember our grandparents when they were young, how much more should we remember them now that they are old!

Grandparent’s Day is Sept. 11. Celebrate it well!

Dr. Don Kuehle, United Methodist, Retired, Jackson, Mo.