Staying Fit
Anna Quindlen was the voice of a generation of working moms 30 years ago, a wise and witty New York Times (later Newsweek) columnist who'd go on to write about middle age in books of essays and novels. Now she's a grandmother — a nana — with a new book, Nanaville: Adventures in Grandparenting.
Quindlen, 65, writes about her feelings of wonder — and sometimes a bit of role confusion — as she embraces her evolving relationship with her toddler grandson, Arthur. It's not always easy to figure out how she fits into this new family structure, she admits. During one “light bulb” moment, as she puts it, she told a friend about how Arthur's parents were ignoring her opinion, and her friend said, “Did they ask you?”
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Quindlen says, “If I got tattoos, those words would now be on my forearm. If the parents ask, great. If not, hold your tongue."
In the book, her daughter-in-law, Lynn, is pregnant with her second child. Since then, Quindlen reports, her granddaugter, Ivy, was born — and nana is smitten, again: “She has wild black hair and enormous cheeks. I call her The Nugget.”
An excerpt from Nanaville:
This Is How it Begins, Again
We searched for the signs. We tried to keep our counsel. Our daughter-in-law passed on wine with dinner. She didn't have coffee in the morning.
In the car to the country she turned, her father-in-law noted, undeniably green.
"Lynn's pregnant,” our son said on a video call with his sister, as his son sat in his high chair and everyone gathered around the table.
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