I admit this one went straight to my heart. My granddaughter Robin has become a photographer, like her mother, like her grandfather. I often worry about how much of a connection I can have with Robin, we live far apart in many ways.
My shrink shocked and challenged me the other day by asking me why it is that I keep insisting Robin and I can’t become too close to one another because of the distance between us and the way we both live. She wants to talk about it more.
She says it would be an awful mistake if we didn’t get to know one another, she said I have so much to offer her.
When I see Robin kneeling down like this while walking on Manhattan’s High Line, it goes straight to my heart. I love to see this tradition continue on, photography has become so important to me, and I think, to Emma.
Robin is born creative, and I suspect photography will be an integral part of her creative life. This photograph got to me, thanks to Emma, for sending it. There is some genuine communication going on here.
I, too, am puzzled by your insistence that you cannot be close to your granddaughter. She is old enough to stay with you for a week or so in the summer, or for you to visit her in her home and do things together. My maternal grandparents lived 800 miles away, yet we visited them at least once a year. We each had several trips for each child to spend a week visiting them alone in the summer. You have created a mental barrier.
Well, stay tuned, Maria, as soon as I figure it out, I’ll let you know (and everyone else who cares.)
You are missing the “best’ years and they go by very quickly….
Sally, I am having the best years of my life and they are going by slowly and meaningfully…
Interesting. My granddaughter, now 21 years old lives in Texas. We are in Delaware. Until Covid-19 she flew with her brother and my daughter, her mother, to see us at least once a year.
There was a period when she read omnivorously and we exchanged frequent emails on books read, or to read.. Then she dropped away in her late teens. Now she has begun again to write long, personal emails and we are cementing a really good relationship. She is running two part-time medical jobs (heading an ambulance crew and filling in at an emergency room) and also is a student at the university of Texas. She is full-speed ahead for some kind of medical career, lives with an exceedingly nice boyfriend and still manages to email me often. So, Jon, your anxiety could probably be laid to rest. Life will turn out the way it intends to.
Always..
Robin looks like you and she is connected to you. Let your healthy heart receive that love. Robin is open to your love as well. You have a wonderful opportunity to leave your fingerprint on her. She will carry that with her all her life. ❤️
I love this picture of your granddaughter, the highlife is a great place for a walk. Make sure you get there
You can do it, with Facetime or Alexa or a Portal, you can easily talk face to face as often as you like!
Thanks, Nicky, I’m well aware of those tools, and they are not the answer for me. I’m glad they work for you. I won’t ever have Alexa in my house, neither will Maria. And I dislike FaceTime immensely, human contact still matters to some people.
You are so fortunate to have a granddaughter, as I’d always wished for children and now grandchildren. I so hope you can figure out a way to know and see her. And, as another photographer, this photo just warms my heart. I’d love to see the photos of what she was shooting. I love the High Line, but haven’t been to the city in years.
Your therapist is right.
She usually is…
John, I felt almost defensive when you declared that neither you or Marie would have an Alexa in your house. Why so negative? I have four in my house and love them with some reservation. I am alone, 80 years, poor eyes, and its hard to look things up, and I hate to turn on the TV just to check on the weather. Forget our local radio stations, which are mostly prerecorded music. Every night, I ask Alexa to play “music for contemplation” and go to sleep with it. First thing when I wake, I asked what time is it? then ask for BBC news international, or PBS. I ask for the forcast for the day, or tomorrow, or next Friday, or whatever day I want. I get the air quality, humidity, temperature of my city, and any forcast of rain. Reading the paper, or a movie review, I will ask, how old an actress or polititian is. I enjoy asking for the top songs of other countries; I listened to the favorites of England, France, Russia, south Korea, but apparently North Korea doesn’t have music. Its astonishing how rap and hip hop are universal. I love classical music, which Alexa does poorly. I recommend it for anyone alone, or housebound. PS Love your pictures of your wake up gang.say good night to Alexa, and she wishes me good night and sometimes sweet dreams. The Alexa also drives me crazy, because you must ask a question very, very specifically, or you get crazy answers. You can ask Alexa for jokes, and spelling of words, which is a great help when I’m writing, but I also have dyslexia, and have a devil of a time pronouncing a word correctly. I will say or read a word to Alexa, and she will say it back to spell, but its not what I said, because I can’t pronounce it correctly. Poor Alexa, I do swear a lot at her. Or I tell her to tell her engineers to stop the constants HINTS to buy something and I swear at them, My most funny moment was I kept insisting on a title of a movie, which she kept getting wrong, or saying she didn’t know. I said, Alexa, you’re lying, and the prompt answer was, “I do not lie, I may not know the truth, but I do not lie.” I guess that put me in my place. I went on line and discoverd the title I was insisting on was incorrect. With the virus, keeping us older folks home, Alexa is a great outlet. I believe to get the music you have to get Amazon Prime, or sign up for it, but you can play almost anything you want. I
Karen, our decision is not about you, we don’t feel the need for Alexa and don’t want a presence like that in our home. There are enough electronic intrusions for us. If you like it, great, good for you, you seem very happy with her. I’m not interested in arguing with you about it, and you don’t need to explain yourself to me, ever.