Recently Mike and I attended his 40-year class reunion. We had a great time and saw many people that he had not seen in years.

Everyone had one thing in common. They were all old. I don’t mean ancient, but older. Forty years will do that to you. Everyone there had to be older and wiser, or at least I sure hope so. There is nothing like a reunion to bring home that we are getting older. With that said, let me tell you what my mom has always told me. She said, “Jan, inside everybody is an 18 year old trying to get out.” That is so true!

Those same crazy, young people of 1969 are the stable citizens that are grandparents of the kids in school today.

I just wonder if the teenagers today ever think about the fact that their grandparents went through some of the same phases that they are going through today. We actually do understand a great deal of what the kids are feeling. I have heard tell that kids can relate to grandparents fairly well. So some of the kids should try talking to grandparents. The kids just might be amazed at the wisdom, understanding, and good advice that the grandparents could share.

I know that I, for one, would be thrilled to sit and talk with my grandkids about almost anything. They don’t have to be perfect for me to think that they are wonderful. I don’t think that I could handle perfect children because I am far from perfect myself.

My mother told me a story about her grandmother. When her grandmother had company, she would tell the other ladies that she had to go play with her grandbaby. She would leave them and go outside to make mud pies with my Aunt Sue. I did not personally know my great-grandmother, but I remembered that story that my mom told me. Because of her, I choose to do things with my grandkids. Other adults can wait because my grandbabies are little only once, and I think that maybe I should go play with the little ones. Who knows, they might let me pour into their lives a little? And just think of the fun that they and I will have making memories.

Grandmas, let’s go make some mud pies with some grandbabies. There is an old saying that the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. I say the hand that plays with grandkids will influence them later in life.