Super Grandma!

by Kari Diane Pike

I did not attend LDStorymakers or the ANWA writing conference this year, so I don't have any amazing new writing thoughts to share. Between working (I write descriptions and keywords for an online video library), school (I am still chipping away at that Bachelor's Degree), being a wife, mother, and grandmother...and three church callings, improving my writing skills has been taking a back seat. Or at least I thought so, until I started reading some of my journal entries and reviewed the many entries I have posted on this blog. I have grown as a writer, and every page I add to my journal or to this blog (or even to my research papers) brings me one page closer to where I want to be as a writer.

I posted on Facebook a couple of weeks ago something along the lines of "They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. When I finish this research paper I will be the world's newest super hero." And you know what? The day I finished that paper and prepared to send it to the three reviewers required by my professor, I did feel like a super hero. At least until I opened my syllabus to review what last few items I needed to do before I submitted the paper to my professor and moved on to take the final exam. Everything was fine until I came upon the word addendum. I am required to add an addendum to the end of my paper with the following items:
* a copy of all three reviews
* my summary of those reviews
* my thoughts on how I think the suggestions made in the reviews can help my paper
* a summary of the changes I chose to make in my paper based on those suggestions
* my thoughts on what I learned from the experience of writing the paper and the review
process and how I am going to apply this enlightenment to my life in the future.

...in other words, I have to write another paper! I felt all that super power rapidly drain out of the giant hole in my ego.

As our family knelt for prayers that night, I whined and complained to my supposedly empathetic teens. Dear Daughter laughed and said, "Mom, you just got your super powers today, and you already found your kryptonite!"

That's okay though. Today, I am in Tucson playing with my two-year-old granddaughter and her new baby brother. As far as she is concerned, all I need to know how to do is operate the DVD player and bake blueberry muffins. oh...and be a princess warrior. Well, the blueberry muffins disappeared in a day, and I did better than turn on the DVD player. I had a secret password that opened the world of Netflix! A grandma who can magically find a granddaughter's favorite episodes of Blue's Clues AND Super Why has to be a super hero!

My books are going to get written. I add a page to the story every day. I have hope that one day, they will even get published. But if nothing else, my words will be there for my grandchildren to read and maybe those words will help them realize that they are super heroes too.