GRAND Magazine - August 2009 - 40

embedded fingerprints, I prayed that she had remembered to wash her hands first. After I settled on my corner of the afghan, the girls bounded into their respective places. They watched in rapt attention as I picked up half of the smashed salami and, with a weak smile, began eating. Thoughts raced through my mind…. Had any part of my sandwich been on the floor? Had the girls coughed or sneezed on it? What was that lump I just chewed? Two-year-old Eloise, normally confined to a high chair at mealtime, loved the freedom to forage. She held the pretzel bag upside down, dumping sticks and salt all over the afghan that I had never used on the floor. Her trail of sticky breadcrumbs stretched across the room. She sauntered to the television and pressed jelly-covered fingers against the screen. After lunch I ventured into the kitchen with my plate—and saw the real mess. The girls had pawed through the bread bag looking for perfect slices. Hunks of bread, cheese wrappers, butter smears, jelly globs and pieces of bologna—riddled with bite marks—littered the table. On the floor, smashed party mix mingled with chunks of cheese. While I cleaned up the kitchen, the girls lingered over their lunches, their voices filling the living room with happy chatter. Back in the living room, I picked up the pretzel sticks that Eloise hadn’t yet ground into oblivion. Twenty years earlier, when I was the mother of two girls, the floor picnic—and its kingsized mess from pint-sized princesses—would have sent me into a tizzy. No longer. “Nice lunch,” I told my granddaughters, as I hauled out the vacuum. “Thank you,” they chorused. “Thank you for making it,” I said, without the least hint of sarcasm, overwhelmed with the feeling of being loved. G Grand photographers: take your best shot! We need your help! Available files of “grandparents and grandchildren”—stock photos—don’t reflect the energy, diversity and creativity of today’s grands and their g’kids. In other words: you. So, we’re asking for your best work that we will use to illustrate some of our editorial features. We’re looking for activities (you and the g’kids cooking, hiking, golfing, studying, recycling, talking, laughing, bicycling or just hanging out together), as well as events (Halloween, holidays, pet parades, arrivals of new siblings, weddings, etc.), and moods (g’kids laughing, crying, whispering, frowning, yelling, singing, showing off, puzzled…. You get the idea). Here are the details: 1. Photos must be digital, high resolution (300 dpi) and submitted as a jpg attachment. 2. If your photo is accepted for publication, you will be sent a release form in which you state that these photos are original to you and that these people have granted you permission to take their photographs for publication. 3. We will notify you when your photo is about to appear in the magazine (last-minute changes are frequent). 4. You will not receive monetary payment for our use of your photographs. 40 GRAND AUGUST 2009

GRAND Magazine - August 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of GRAND Magazine - August 2009