I have four grandchildren ranging in age from ten to three and a new one on the way. One of the greatest gifts of being a grandmother is being a storyteller. My oldest granddaughter pictured above and I started writing stories together when she was just six years old. She lives in Berlin Germany and we have only visited and seen each other three times in ten years. Still we have the most remarkable relationship because we started visiting online from the time she was very young. One of the ways we started connecting was telling stories. I would start a sentence and she would finish it. Soon I began writing the stories down and one day we had a whole booklet of stories we had written together. She is now a budding young artist and is starting to draw pictures to illustrate our stories. Her younger sister is now wanting me to tell her stories and to write stories with me. It is such a great way to connect and use one’s imagination. We have never met in person and yet there is still a love connection between us that transcends the physical. That is the power of storytelling.

My grandchildren in Canada visit with me regularly and we have great fun making up stories and play acting. One day I am a veterinarian, another day I am a dog owner bringing my dog to the hospital to be healed.

My grandson made up a game called story cars. He has a whole collection of miniature cars and each one has a personality. Each person who is playing is given a car and then we make up stories and play with the cars pretending we are on a great adventure. Some cars a good friends others are bad guys who need to be stopped. It is great fun telling and imaging stories with him.