Thinking of You

There are many ways to celebrate Grandparents Day.

We can buy flowers. We can send a card. We can bring a small gift. We can plan lunch or gather the whole family around a table.

All of those things are wonderful.

But perhaps the most important gift we can give our grandparents costs nothing at all.

Just make sure they know you are thinking of them.

When we are children, grandparents often seem like a permanent part of the world. They are simply there.

They are the people with a little more patience when our parents have run out of it. The people who sometimes let us have one more piece of cake. The people who tell the same stories again and again, even though we may not understand yet why those stories matter.

Their homes can become part of our childhood memories. A certain chair. A familiar smell from the kitchen. A clock ticking on the wall. A garden. A cupboard where we know the treats are hidden.

We rarely think about how precious any of it is.

We are children. We believe there will always be another Sunday, another summer, another holiday, another afternoon at Grandma and Grandpa’s house.

Then we grow up.

Our lives become bigger.

School becomes work. Childhood friends become adult friendships. We build relationships and families of our own. There are appointments, bills, responsibilities, messages waiting for answers and endless little things demanding our attention.

The days move quickly.

And sometimes the people who were such a big part of our childhood quietly receive a smaller part of our adult lives.

Not because we love them less.

Not because we have forgotten them.

Simply because life became busy.

That is why I think Grandparents Day can be such a beautiful reminder.

Not a reminder to find the perfect present.

A reminder to reach out.

Sometimes we imagine that showing someone how much they mean to us requires a big gesture. But love does not always need a big gesture.

Sometimes it needs three minutes.

A phone call just to say, “Hello. I was thinking about you.”

A text message in the middle of an ordinary afternoon.

An old photograph sent with the words, “I found this today and it made me smile.”

A handwritten card arriving unexpectedly in the mailbox.

A quick voice message.

A visit for a cup of coffee or tea, without waiting for a birthday, Christmas or another special occasion.

Such small things.

And yet, they may mean so much.

Because hidden inside that simple message — I was thinking about you — are many other messages.

You still matter to me.

You are part of my life.

I remember.

I haven’t forgotten what you gave me.

Perhaps one day you suddenly remember something your grandmother used to cook. Tell her.

Perhaps you catch yourself repeating one of your grandfather’s expressions. Tell him.

Perhaps you use a piece of advice they gave you years ago and only now understand how right they were. Tell them.

We often carry pieces of our grandparents with us without even realizing it.

They can live in the traditions we continue, the recipes we make, the stories we repeat, the values we pass to our own children and even in the little habits we once thought were unimportant.

And maybe they would love to know that.

There is something else Grandparents Day reminds us of, too.

Time is not unlimited.

None of us knows how many ordinary phone calls, Sunday afternoons, cups of tea or family celebrations are still ahead of us. That is not something we need to fear. It is simply a reason not to keep love waiting for a better moment.

We are very good at thinking about people silently.

We remember them while making coffee. We smile at an old photograph. We hear a song and suddenly think of something that happened twenty years ago.

But the person we are thinking about does not always know.

So tell them.

That may be the simplest message of Grandparents Day.

You do not need the perfect words today. You do not need an expensive gift or an elaborate celebration.

Call them.

Write to them.

Visit them if you can.

Tell them about the memory that crossed your mind.

Ask them to tell you that old story one more time.

And if distance separates you, find a small way to cross it.

Just make sure they know.

Make sure they know that somewhere in the middle of your busy life, there is still a place that belongs to them.

Make sure they know that the years have not erased what they gave you.

Make sure they know that they are remembered.

Sometimes “I love you” is spoken in many different ways.

And sometimes one of the most beautiful is simply:

I was thinking of you today.

HAPPY GRANDPARENTS DAY!

GK