Grandparents Denied Access to their Grandchildren
to their Grandchildren
so many years gone.you’re but a memory;a shadow; a crack in my soul. you once called me your angel.do you think of me at all? i am alive, not yet a memory;but one day i’ll visit you as a warm recollection;a fluttering; a sudden clutching;a […]
Jeez Louise, here I go again. Another Christmas without my grandchildren. It’s been a very long time since I saw their eager, excited little faces on Christmas morning. However, the reality is that they’re no longer little, but teenagers who have been absent in my […]
Every year at this time, I receive correspondences from estranged parents and grandparents who express sadness about missing their adult children and grandchildren at Thanksgiving. One estranged grandmother wrote that she found herself resenting all the ‘happy, happy people and their happy families.” Her perception […]
We all know that our lives can change in a split second, yet we often go through our days feeling that life unfolds in a straight line. But we know on a deep level that some kink will eventually challenge us to wake up and […]
We are all born with an umbilical cord that attaches us to our mother. Although it is cut immediately after birth, there is an invisible cord connecting mother and child resulting in symbiosis. For many, this invisible cord connects mother and child for years, if […]
One of the devastating side effects of being unfairly alienated from our adult child and grandchildren is being on the receiving end of disrespect, abuse, and cruelty. We are often maligned and accused of crimes we never committed. Many years ago, I was put in […]
I recently had a discussion with a friend on the subject of hope. She has been estranged from her son for five years, but she is upbeat and lives a good life. She shared that, for her, hope meant managing expectations. I think most of us would […]
Recently, I’ve become concerned about what the effects of ongoing grief and depression have had on my brain. I have experienced so much trauma, heartache, abuse and betrayal over the course of my life that it feels like sometimes I am unable to cope and […]
I recently saw a picture of my son and his four children sitting on a rock next to a beautiful waterfall. My first reaction after seeing the picture was to mourn the fact that I can’t make special memories with my grandchildren like I did […]
The wind is crowded with hungry ghosts tonight. Sitting at my kitchen table, I warm my hands on a mug of hot coffee. My eyes cut to the mantle, to the photo, where your laughter was once caught like a passing train. […]