At GrandPad we know how meaningful each moment is for your closest loved ones – each photograph, each email, each phone call becomes a cherished memory. With the GrandPad tablet we strive to connect seniors with their families with an accessible and simple tablet anyone can use.
The connections forged between child and parent are unbreakable and absolute, and this Mother’s Day we turned the tables so we could learn about the powerful women that make up our GrandPad users, the women that shaped their lives, and how the lessons they learnt impacted how they raised their own children. This first Mother’s Day story comes from Mary, a new GrandPad member and avid fan of the Photos app, and her daughter, Christine.
Mary’s mother was a single mother “long before it was fashionable to be,” Mary recalls with a fond chuckle. Blazing new trails in the mid 1930s, Mary’s mother got her degree, secured a great job, and provided for her children with her own tenacity and skill.
Mary remembers how different the times were back then – Mary’s mother worked at a company that refused to employ women with children, so Mary and her siblings were “a bit of a secret,” Mary admits with a wry laugh.
Always a professional, Mary’s mother forged a career from a low-paying job as a secretary to running her own company as president. Mary beams when contemplating how proud her mother would be of her lineage. “One of her granddaughters is a lawyer, one is a professor of chemical engineering… I’m sure she would be very proud.”
Mary’s mother had to work 6 and a half days a week to provide and give her a future, so once Mary became a mother she made sure she had the time to spend with Christine and her daughters that society didn’t afford her mother.
Mary and her husband spoiled their daughters and gave them the best education they could, Mary beams. Her husband has said “the best investment we can make is in our daughters,” and Mary knows this firsthand from her own mother’s struggle and perseverance.
When asked if she has any advice for new moms, Mary thinks, then declares, “instill in [your children] a sense of responsibility from the beginning,” which comes as no surprise considering the amount of responsibility her mother instilled in Mary. After a pause, she adds that you should teach your children to simply be nice to the people around them. “That’s important,” Mary emphasizes.
Christine recalls that her mother, Mary, always worked day and night tending to Christine and her sisters. Mary and her husband raised four daughters, and then Mary’s husband sadly passed away unexpectedly when Christine was 18. Taking on the full responsibility of parenthood for her daughters, Mary instilled in them the importance of a proper education and a passion for learning.
Christine and her sisters attended first-rate institutions to pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees, including Stanford, UCLA, USD, and Loyola. Now Mary’s seven grandchildren have degrees from other prestigious universities, and are likely to follow in their parents’ footsteps.
“The one thing that makes Mom so special is the gift of time,” Christine iterates. “I can recall being very young and Mom would read to me almost every night, even when she must have had other things to do with four children. She was very creative with school projects; I once made a California mission out of cake!”
For Christine, one of the most important gifts her mother gave her was the gift of faith that’s helped Christine and her family through so many good times and bad times. “Mom always had a strong belief that it was in his hands,” Christine remembers. “That gift of faith gets you through so much.”
A few years ago Mary took her children to Pittsburgh on a tour of their family’s “roots.” Christine and her sisters were able to see the homes where Mary and Mary’s husband grew up. “I could not get enough of it,” Christine exclaims. “I wanted to go everywhere the memories were made that shaped my mom and dad!”
Every fleeting moment and afternoon alone with our mothers becomes so precious and dear to our heart. You’ll never know what moments will grow into a cherished memory; with GrandPad by their side, we hope our users will never miss another memory as they stay connected with the ones they love. From all of us here at GrandPad, have a wonderful Mother’s Day.