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
I think fondly on my grandparents today. They have been gone a long time. Now I stand in their place. I see their pictures on my wall and think I am now the age they were when they had that picture taken
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There is something so powerful about realizing we have reached the age our grandparents once were in the photographs we remember. It changes the way we see them—not only as our grandparents, but as people living their own lives, just as we are now. What a beautiful way to feel connected to them across the years.
GK
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I remember thinking of them as always old and now I realize they probably did not feel as old as I thought they were, but I also understand their limitations a bit better now.
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“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.”
Ah the truth in this! The “better moment” illusion.
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Yes, exactly—the illusion that there will somehow be a more perfect time later. But so often, the ordinary moment we have right now is the better moment. Love should never have to wait for the perfect occasion. Thank you, Rosie.
GK
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Such a lovely, needed reminder. Small gestures really do carry the weight of “I love you” more than we give them credit for.
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So true. We sometimes search for big ways to show our love when a simple call, message, or few minutes together can say everything. It’s often the smallest gestures that stay in our hearts the longest.
GK
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Reading this made me think of my grandparents, I was very close to my maternal grandmother who passed away in 2016, I want to thank you for stirring up the memories I have of her
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Thank you for sharing that with me. I’m so glad my words brought some of those precious memories of your grandmother back to you. When we have shared such a close bond with someone, the years may pass, but the love and memories remain a part of us.
GK
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There is such a good reminder in this, Georgi. We tend to save our words for birthdays, holidays, and special occasions, when some of the sweetest words arrive for no reason at all. An unexpected “I was thinking about you” says something a calendar reminder never quite can—it says you crossed my mind simply because you matter to me. And I especially appreciate what you said about telling our grandparents when we recognize something of them in ourselves. What a gift it would be for someone to hear, while they are still here to hear it, “I understand now what you were trying to teach me,” or “I still do that because of you.” Love shouldn’t have to become a memory before we finally find the words for it.
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This is so beautifully said. I especially love your last thought—love shouldn’t have to become a memory before we find the words for it. We often don’t realize how meaningful it can be for someone to hear that a lesson they taught us, a tradition they shared, or even a small habit of theirs still lives in us. Those words cost nothing, but I think they can be among the greatest gifts we give someone while we still have the chance.
GK
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Oh Sweet Georgi, what a lovely post you’ve written! I didn’t realize that today was Grandparent’s Day! That’s how shut-in I’m in these days.
Your words —
“You still matter to me.
You are part of my life.
I remember.
I haven’t forgotten what you gave me.”
These words brought tears to my eyes. Thank you for putting it into words I (and others like me) can read.
There are MANY of us. But we rarely complain. It actually helps to remind us of our own busy time. And how often we inadvertently forgot our own parents and grandparents.
Remembering those busy times does help to alleviate any guilt (but not all, a healthy amount) we might have felt, and it helps us to forgive as well as have a deeper compassion on the family.
Thank you so much!
—Shirley
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Shirley, thank you for sharing this with me. Knowing that those few lines touched you so deeply means more than I can say. I think what you wrote about remembering our own busy years is so important too—it helps us understand both sides with a little more compassion. Life can pull people in so many directions, and sometimes love is still there even when it isn’t expressed as often as we wish. I’m especially grateful that my words made you feel seen and remembered today. Sending you a warm hug, my friend.
GK
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I think of my grandparents quite often and wish I could call, visit, or text. They are in heaven, but the years with them are still in my heart. Now I’m a grandparent and a great grandparent. I can only hope my grands and I have made happy memories they will remember in the years to come.
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This is so beautifully said. The fact that you still carry your grandparents and those years with them in your heart shows just how lasting that bond can be. And now, as a grandparent and great-grandparent yourself, I’m sure the love and time you share are creating memories that your family will carry with them too.
GK
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Thanks
For liking my post ‘Traffic’🌹 🙏
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Your words really struck a chord. It is so true that when we are young, we just assume those Sundays and summers will go on forever. We do not notice the quiet passage of time, like that clock ticking on the wall, until we are much older. It is easy to get swept up in how big and busy life becomes, but those quiet, still moments are actually where the best memories are made. Thank you for this beautiful reminder to pause and let the people who gave us those memories know we are thinking of them.
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Thank you so much for this beautiful reflection. As children, we really do believe those Sundays and summers will last forever. Only later do we understand how precious those ordinary moments were. And maybe that is one of the gifts of growing older—we learn to notice them while they are happening and, hopefully, remember to tell the people beside us how much they mean.
GK
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It’s a beautiful thought, learning to notice those moments as we get older. That’s actually a core idea behind what I do with tai chi. If you were curious, the first session, ‘Day One,’ is a whole twenty-two minute video. It’s free, requires no sign-up or card, and is all seated, so it works from any ordinary chair.
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