If you ask a three-year-old that question, you might get a response like, "I will be all grown up." As a parent, you realize your eight-year-old will be considered an adult. They most likely will move out and go to college. But if you are a grandparent, how old will you be in ten years? And what would life look like? Will you be retired? What are your hopes and dreams for that future point in your life?

What is new about war? Nothing…but you knew that!

Conflicts, battles, and wars are as old as time. They are fought for various reasons ranging from independence to the expansion of national borders. If we counted the American Wars, not to include the wars of others that the US soldiers were part of, we are currently at 12.

"To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow." — Audrey Hepburn. My favorite actress and one of my favorite movies she stared in was "Breakfast at Tiffany's." Holly Golightly's transformation from a country girl into a Manhattan socialite was a total refresh which I will address in another blog.

While living in a free country pursuing their dreams, they also felt obligated to Lift Small Boats back in Poland. The concept is that if you help those struggling financially, everyone benefits. My family would sew U.S. dollars into the hems of clothing and send it to relatives in Communist Block Poland. U.S. cash at the time could get you goods that weren't available with Polish currency. They also assisted other family members in relocating to America to pursue their ambitions. As a close neighbor, now the Ukrainians need our help to fight back against the same powerful country, Russia.

Life without technology? I know what you are thinking…heresy!

It isn't easy to imagine living without the technology we know and love. We owe technology for our modern and comfortable way of life in our everyday interaction. You are probably asking yourself if there was no technology, do you need to go back and find an old-fashioned alarm clock.

Most parents and grandparents have noticed that their kids and grandkids loved collecting things at one point or another. It could be rocks they find outside, seashells they seek out whenever they're at the beach or a specific kind of toy. Growing up, my mom and dad encouraged us to collect coins that turned into a rather large coin collection. It's fascinating why children collect things, but the main reason is that it's fun. Kids get to learn more about things they enjoy, and it's interesting for them. 

If you grew up in the 1970s, you were the “groovy” kid with an Atari. It was “cool beans” to play Oregon Trail, which first came out in 1971. But it was in the early 90’s that it was available for windows which would be “phat,” a phrase used when something was cool. Pokémon came out in the late 1990s, and Pokémon Go came out in 2016, which would be called “buzzworthy.” Candie Crush became a thing in 2012 but would be considered “meh” to some. Some of the past slang and trends might not be foreign to you, but what are Wordle and “GOAT.” Here are some things to know as a grandparent in the 2020s.

Ugh! I'm so fat, I'm not very smart, I'm ugly, nobody likes me. I would like to say that these 4 self-image distracters are the only image issues that we as parents, grandparents, humans might have to deal with, but that would be far from the truth. None of them, or all of them, maybe how you personally felt at one time, or perhaps even still do.