September is the month that celebrates grandparent and all that they do. According to Farmers Almanac, it was passed through legislation in 1978 and was officially signed by President Jimmy Carter. Due to the closeness to the beginning of the year, October tends to be the time of year that preschools and elementary schools have their annual "Bring Your Grandparents to School Day". This usually involves different activities that the classroom sets up that can be participated in by grandparent and students. Some make family trees, others have tea time and baked goods, others make cards together or even interview each other.

During for my kindergarten "Bring your Grandparents to School Day" my paternal grandparents were on vacation and my maternal had different forms of illnesses. Five years old me was absolutely devastated and so upset that none of my four grandparents could make it, especially when other classmates had bragged about their multiple grandparents coming to school.

media.giphy.com

This devastation continues until my fantastic neighbor volunteered to come so I would not be the child left out. This neighbor was an adopted grandmother of sorts. Around the same age as my actual grandparents and was ALWAYS willing to watch me/pretend to hang out with me so I felt I wasn't being "babysat." Her yard connected to mine so almost anytime I went outside I would go over to visit her. She let my mother have some much-needed breaks, even if only for 30 minutes. Her coming to my Grandparent's Day meant more to me than I even realized at the time. Every other kid in my class had at least one grandparent there, so I was thrilled that she came along. She did all the normal Grandparent activities assigned for the day with me and we ended up having a great time.

Although I had four biological grandparents, whom I all love very deeply, this event, although not known immediately made me realize that family doesn't have to be only those you have blood ties too. It also showed me at a young age about how small acts of kindness that can mean the word to others, as it still sticks with me many years later. Although not a blood relative, she made time for me as a child and fixed a seemingly catastrophic problem for me. This itself makes her a very special person to me and makes me realize that although not blood, I consider her family and an adopted grandparent.