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I was the only kindergartner without a grandparent. Grandparents' day was coming, and we were all supposed to bring our grandparents, but mine were all hundreds of miles away. What was a poor kid to do?

As always, my mother had the solution: adopt a grandparent. There was an older man in my church who had become rather fond of me, and I of him. I liked him because he always had a piece of candy to slip into my hand whenever I saw him. His name was Ira, and he became my Grandpa Ira for a day. Actually, he became my grandpa for the rest of his life.

In tenth grade, the same situation happened, but we'd moved away from our old church. This time, I knew my answer: adopt! This time I chose a teacher. Our Grandparents' Day banquet was rather special-I didn't know that I'd also chosen the teacher who led the banquet. He made a huge speech about how his granddaughter had chosen him, and how honored he was to be a grandparent for the day.

It wasn't long that I realized there were elderly men who loved to play grandpa, even if they had no grandchildren of their own. I began visiting some of the older couples in our church, bringing home-made goodies and a ready ear. My grandparents love to tell stories! By college, I had more grandparents than any kid I knew. Some of them even remembered my birthdays, came to my important events, and encouraged me more than my real grandparents. I loved them all, and relished the returned affection.

During college, my grandparents started leaving this world. The worst part was that I had to remain at school, and could not see them one last time. Grandpa Ira. Grandpa Friedli. Grandpa Baucom. I began to look at my remaining grandparents. Were they really that old? Life is so fragile, and the bit of life these kind people spend on being my adopted grandparents is indeed short. I began to seek out more grandparents to love and be loved by. By now, I was catching every spare chance to spend time with them.

Now that I am married, I can't stop finding grandparents to adopt. There is a mutual blessing, a beautiful bond, in adoption. I don't ask them to be my grandparents anymore, but that is how I think of them. It's how I treat them. They have so much to teach, and there are so few people who will stop to learn. I never want to be too busy to stop and visit with the elderly.

All of my real grandparents still live too far away to visit. I have seen them a couple times in my life, and there are no hard feelings. Things are what they are. And besides, I have more grandparents than any little kid could ever dream of having.

Learn more about this author, A. L. Sugden.
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