Who Are You When You're Not Grandma?       

Meeting Structure

We began our meeting by moving to four different locations in Michele's house. Each group had six grandmas with one serving as time keeper. Each GaGa had five minutes to answer any of the questions she wanted. After 30 minutes, we rotated to new groups and began another round of conversations. At the end of the second discussion, we all returned to one large circle and shared some of our impressions about whom we'd met, what we heard, or something that inspired us. 

Favorite Decade

• Diane was impressed by how many grandmas said their favorite decade or time of life was the present. In contrast, she recalled her happiest time during her first year as a mother. She'd always dreamed of having a baby and when he finally arrived, she felt she'd achieved her life's goal and felt very fulfilled.
• Jeannie thanked the group for sharing and said we were all "inspiring women who are not conflicted about being who we truly are." She wished young women could hear the vibrancy of our stories.   

GaGa Passions and Goals

• Complete her autobiography in a year so she can pass it on to her children and grandchildren.
• Re-read old journals and pick out themes and breakthroughs to share with her family.
• Create a birthday book series for children that grandmas could customize for their grandchildren.
• Live for 20 more years and feel good. 

• Ricka just returned from a two-week bike trip in Chile and already has another planned to Viet Nam.
• Judy loves exotic travel with culture included and has been to South Africa, Tibet, and Istanbul.

During the 80s, Judy was sailing to Luxor aboard a ship on the Nile. She got up very early on the second day and saw that the ship was on fire. She then discovered that there were no life boats, vests or crew to be found on board. She ran to get her husband and came back to chaos on the deck. People were jumping off the side of the ship, 20 feet down into the water with and without chairs to help them float. Judy and her husband and the rest of the passengers were all rescued by people from the small town of Dendara. Even though the ship burned and they lost everything, she felt it was life changing; a rebirth or wake-up call. She has kept in touch with a group of 75 of the rescued passengers who spent a week together after the fire.   

Michele and her husband were foster parents 15 years ago. They received Max when he was five days old and took care of him for almost two years. A few months ago she wanted to reconnect with him and searched the Internet. Through several connections and phone calls, she learned that he went to private school in the East Bay. Michele and her husband showed up for the school's baseball game and brought Max's 18-month old photo in a baseball suit (See photo below in GaGa Zone.) After the game, they introduced themselves to Max and he threw his arms around them, calling them "Mama" and "Papa" as he did when he was a toddler. He is now back in their lives as a second grandchild and recently, they took him to a Warrior's game.  

What Makes GaGas Happy?

After our grandchildren, of course, many different things:  

Carol has been volunteering with JustBeingGirls.com whose founder, Valerie Foster is a grandma of 'tween girls.  

Ricka just became a mentor for Breast Cancer Connections. She plans to help newly diagnosed women combine exercise with their cancer treatment as she did when she was recovering a year ago.   

Group Impressions 

• What a well-traveled group.
• It's nice to have grandma role models with such rich, full lives.
• I'm more inspired and motivated to write my memoir.
• Every meeting gives me something more.
• I'm enriched by the GaGa's sharing bit of their lives.  
• I appreciate the opportunity to be with like-minded women.
• I'm inspired by the goodness and generosity of our members and how much they're giving back.
• There's a wonderful sense of camaraderie and connection in the group.