She's My Grandmother...
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"I'm going down to see Mom-Mom!" Joey called after he got down from his high chair at the kitchen table. Now that he was three, he didn't use the tray on his high chair, but the height of the chair was just perfect to push up to the kitchen table for his meals. His trip down the stairs was always the same, his left hand was on the railing, his left foot went on the step down and then the right foot came down to meet the left. His pace was as rapid as he could make it because Joey was anticipating his happy visit with Mom-Mom, in her cozy apartment downstairs. "OK, Hon, have fun," his Mom called after him. "Woo-hoo," he called out while knocking and opening the door to Mom-Mom's apartment. "Woo-hoo," her voice called out in return, and into Mom-Mom's Joey went, closing the door behind him. He was very good about remembering to close her door because he knew that his dog, Nipsy, was not allowed in Mom-Mom's, not because she didn't love him but because he shed his hair and sometimes he had fleas!
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About the Book
Welcome to the world of a happy 3-year-old and his family. Joey is especially lucky because Mom-Mom (his grandmother) has just moved into his family's home, into a small apartment that they were able to prepare for her. Now he can visit with her every single day! She's My Grandmother… shares the fun activities of a child and his grandmother and many of their happy moments, holidays, celebrations, and daily family occurrences. As time passes, it becomes apparent that Mom-Mom has Alzheimer's disease, which adds a strain to his family's life. Joey's visits continue but he is regularly confronted with statements and situations that are confusing and different from what he is used to. Even after Mom-Mom moves into a nursing home and Joey is 9, the iron bond of love that is reserved for children and their grandmothers continues. One day after an adventuresome visit to the nursing home, Joey made a statement to his Mom that gave her a flood of understanding about his feelings and his view of life. What she thought was a bad experience was not the way her child perceived the same experience. This book was written as a juvenile nonfiction book in story form, but its message impacts all ages of reader. It presents a child's pure love for his grandmother that is untouched or changed by adversity. The hope is that it will uplift the hearts of those reading it, remind them of the beauty of the pure love of a child, and encourage those experiencing a dark moment in life to try to find the blessings that are there.
About the Author
Nancy M. Massa, a lifelong resident of New Jersey resides in Eatontown with her husband and her son, who is now in college. She has a BA in Speech from Douglass College and an MA in Human Development from Fairleigh Dickinson University. She has been a speech correctionist in the Eatontown Public School District for 33 years and has enjoyed working with and learning from children of various ages and abilities, in grades Kindergarten through Middle School. The story she has written, She's My Grandmother..., was inspired by a segment of her family's life. Her mother lived with her family in her elder years and became afflicted with Alzheimer's Disease. Her son's personification of love of life during this difficult period of their families' life, gave her a reawakened perspective and appreciation of how a child experiences life and love and adversity. She has realized and tries to show in this book that even the darkest moments in life have a blessing, if one could look at the situation in a different perspective, perhaps through the eyes of and with the feelings of a child. She hopes that all readers of this book are able to experience warm hearts, fond memories of their own childhood and grandparents, catch a glimpse of a child's perspective, and be reminded of the pure, unconditional love that a child experiences and is able to give.