Hi Sherry,

Sorry for my previous blank post. I had written something and then realized I hadn't read your original post thoroughly.

I originally suggested it might be depression, but having read that her mother has said she's always been like this, has ruled that out.

However, it still could be a possibility if her behaviour has gotten worse over the years. Yes, your grandson is school age, now, but I would imagine post natal/post partum depression would continue if left undiagnosed and untreated. Do you see any signs that might indicate this?

Again, only a suggestion.

This is taken from a site: "Vibrant Nation" They have a wonderful book on line "The Silver Pearl" http://www.vibrantnation.com/the-silver-pearl/



The Silver Pearl
Section 5: Parenting Grown Children
A Parent's Prayer
The Silver Pearl's avatar Jimmy L. Smull, Ph.D. Carol Orsborn, Ph.D.Our friend Agnes lives next door to her daughter, her daughter’s husband and her two grandchildren. With our own children scattered across the country, we have to admit that we are sometimes jealous of how close they are. They go shopping together. They frequently dine at each other’s houses. The grandchildren drop in spontaneously day and night. But over a rare pot of tea, Agnes admitted to us that she isn’t so sure that closeness with one’s adult children is such a blessing.

"I wanted to live near Gwen and the kids. But somewhere along the line, I realized that a side-product of this level of intimacy is, simply put: I know too much about them. Between the four of them, not to mention my son and his family and my husband’s and my own issues, there’s always something wrong with someone, somewhere consuming me."

Agnes paused. When she spoke again, it was with a poignant tone.

"You know, when I think about my grandmother, Molly, she had a better handle on this than do I. You see, she had nine children and 25 grandchildren, and she couldn’t possibly invest the level of worrying into each one that I bring to the table. For her, it was enough to know that her children weren’t sick or in jail. Short of that, they had to fend for themselves. Perhaps it’s better that way."

Identifying with Agnes’s yearning for peace of mind, we recognize that between e-mail, phones and cheap airfare, our adult children don’t have to live next door for us to know just enough to be consumed with worry.

Who doesn’t wish we could protect our children and our children’s children all their lives? But life’s unknowns have a way of sometimes spinning circumstances out of our control. Even Agnes’s grandmother, Molly, made exceptions for her nine children and 25 grandchildren when a genuine crisis was at hand.

In the meanwhile, she was always ready to listen to them, cry with them and serve up a hot cup of soup. And one more thing, Agnes reports. "She prayed a lot."

Here is Molly’s favorite prayer.

Molly's Prayer

God, Here’s my family, and here are all our worries.
I’ve done what I can. Now, it’s your turn.

browser, I just reviewed another book of Carol's on our blog. And she's going to do a teleseminar with us soon. She's a lovely woman. I've met her a couple times at conferences.