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Grandma's Place

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While Dad is away on a business trip, 9-year-old Sam stays at Gams’ house. Over the next two weeks, she and Gams share quality time and grow closer together. Gams’ home is both fascinating and scary. The old house is filled with a lifetime’s worth of treasures.

Sam looks up to her Gams, a great cook and an expert gardener, but is saddened as she sees her grandmother struggling to do things that once came so easily. She notices that the big house is getting to be too much for Gams to manage; the stairs are getting harder and harder to climb. When Dad returns, Sam knows, she must find the courage to share the struggles she’s seen with him what she has witnessed.

Mad? Furious! is how Sam feels when she hears how her father speaks to his mother about the challenges Gams is facing. He tells her that he needs to “place” her. This sounds all wrong to Sam. Gams is not and never will be an object to be “placed”!

Our words have the power to open up or rapidly shut down conversations. To a senior destabilized by a loss of autonomy, a few simple words can make all the difference. Let’s speak from the heart when it comes to conversations around aging.

©2020 Marie-Claude Giguère (P)2023 Marie-Claude Giguère
Fiction Growing Up Growing Up & Facts of Life Literature & Fiction Multi-generational Family Heartfelt
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This book provides a great insight into the correct behaviour towards our elderly and is told from the perspective of a child who can see how Grandma is starting to struggle but does not want her to be put away as she can still see how much Grandma has to offer and wisdom to pass down.
I found the book very poignant as my own mother is 89 and still living alone with support from the family and is proud of her independence. I read this book after spending a morning clearing her garage and trying to be sensitive to the fact that what is rubbish to me is a memory or a treasure to her.
I was pleased Grandma's friend was called Betty.

A poignant and educational story

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