The Grand Life: Wholehearted Grandparenting

Being a mindful grandparent is the expertise of author and educator Shirley Showalter, who returns with big ideas from her latest book, The Mindful Grandparent, written with Marilyn McEntire and available online here.

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Emily and Mike have made it out and back on a test visit up the East Coast to grandkids and an aging parent, relying on mass transit on wheels, not wings. It was a revelation, an education, and a confirmation. Hear what they learned in this "field report" on their big test run.

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From their new home served by an Amtrak line, Mike and Emily plan a train trip to visit grands--which reminds them of an episode about toy trains as a way to bond with grandchildren. Their guest, Mr. Muffin, has a YouTube channel, "Mr. Muffin's Trains," where you can see his amazing collection of O-gauge model trains.

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Emily and Mike take their own guests' advice in this rewind to a 2020 episode about what they just did: relocate to be near grands! The advice they gave us was good then. Now it's way more real.

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Moving Day has left its mark, so Emily and Mike provide a report on their relocation. Also we revisit part of an episode about being in "the room where it happens:" the Delivery Room when a grandchild is born. Inside the room our outside it, this also leaves a mark.

SHOW NOTES

Here are details on our guests in this episode:

Midwife Mairi Breen Rothman is part of a group practice,  http://mamasmidwives.com. They have a Facebook page, MAMASMidwives. If you'd like to see Mairi in action, Voice of America produced a 28-minute documentary film about her and the topic of home birth at https://www.voanews.com/a/4671481.html. 

The Grand Life spoke with Dr. Becky Haak just after she returned from medical missionary work in Mozambique. See https://www.samaritanspurse.org/article/emergency-field-hospital-opens-expanding-medical-care-in-mozambique/ .

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If perhaps you forgot about our episode on remembering and forgetting, we'll help you! While our podcast studio is still out of commission, here's a "rewind" to this Season 4 interview with a neurologist and a psychologist who give us some hope about our aging brains.

Dr. Francine Toder's book is "The Vintage Years: Finding Your Inner Artist (Writer, Musician, Visual Artist) After Sixty." She also has a website, doctoder.com.

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While our studio is out of commission for a few weeks, we're inviting listeners of The Grand Life to revisit an episode about the talk all families need to have if guns are kept where kids might discover them.

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Many grandparents hope their children and grands will adopt their faith tradition and carry it generationally forward. Author Richard Olson offers trends and suggestions in his book The Grandparent Vocation: Wisdom, Legacies, and Spiritual Growth, and in this episode, Emily and Mike invite his wisdom and advice for you. His book is available at the link above from the publisher, and online.

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Emily and Mike reconnect with Dr. Kerry Byrne, founder of The Long-Distance Grandparent, a resource with research and ideas to keep relationships with grands vibrant and healthy, including a special message they need to hear from you. Kerry has a title for you: Grand Encouragement Officer. (That's a hint at the message.)

We have a special request: call us at ‪(317) 572-7876 and talk to us about about sharing your faith with your grands. Have you? How did you go about it? In hindsight, good idea or bad? It's for our March 24 episode.

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Bonding with your grandchildren over music is such a joy. Music as one part of a multisensory experience is the subject of this conversation with composer/pianist Murray Hidary, who advocates for the connectedness that music can produce.

Murray's performance experiences are explained (and his concert schedule) is at www.mindtravel.com, and his free coloring/drawing meditation booklet is here. His schedule of upcoming virtual live experiences is here.

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