Bea Frank is a 53-year-old first time grandma. She and her husband live in Southampton, New York, where they are currently collaborating on a screenplay, building a Web site and Skyping with their new grandchild. Frank also teaches spinning in her spare time and hopes to stay fit for more grandchildren, endless fun and maybe even a dog.
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In the hustle and bustle of the fast paced world in which we live, I can’t help but notice the anxiety and stress that surrounds us. It could be because everyone, young, old and in between, is working crazy hours, lives with and internalizes a fear they might lose their job (real or not), and is stressed by the extra demands, cutbacks on staff, long hours, undefined roles, pay cuts and lack of a bonus in 2012. The bonus they were counting on to pay bills, enjoy a getaway, buy a loved one a belated gift, save for later or pay off an outstanding...
Back in my day, “grandma power” meant whatever grandma said was OK, because it was grandma. Grandma was the one who could spoil your children, the person to vent to, the queen of sleepovers and the cook behind the best homemade food. Grandma had the power to love and takeover when mom was tired or had to be somewhere.
Many of my friends do not what to be called grandma because they feel that it means they are getting old. They do not want to babysit or feel obligated to. Thus they make up untraditional names instead of being called any...
Since my husband and I got married five years ago, we started a tradition for all of our children and grandchildren. We recognized that with the blending of our families we had to mindful of the four sets of parents and grandparents and extended families. My husband and I did not want our kids to stress over choosing where they were going for Thanksgiving. We celebrate with all the kids the first date everyone agrees on after the actual holiday for our Annual Turkey Bowl. This is when we go bowling and everyone makes a dish for a potluck dinner that follows...
Molly played a trick right before Halloween that had us all laughing, especially me. I had been sitting in traffic on a rainy Thursday night that took me three hours to get home from New York City. While I was speaking with my son-in-law during my drive, he suddenly stopped talking in a fit of hysterical laughter. Once he gained control, my son-in-law proceeded to tell me that 3-year-old Molly went up to her baby sister’s room, realizing the baby monitor connection would reach her dad who was in the kitchen speaking with me and was not paying close...
I was sitting on the subway heading to a meeting the other day when President Obama was in town at the United Nations. As you can imagine, public transportation was quite crowded as we have been advised by Mayor Bloomberg and the media to use public transportation on days like these and avoid the use of cars and taxis.
I don’t know about you, but being a country bumpkin at heart, I normally get a little anxious about the NYC subway system. Before I go down the stairs to the platform, I turn my eyes behind my head on and switch on my antenna for...
