A real family consists of three generations .... "To forget one's ancestors is to be a brook without a source, a tree without a root."

My speech for Grandparents Day ....

A real family consists of three generations.....
We had four ....

"To forget one's ancestors is to be a brook without a source, a tree without a root."

"No one ... who has not known that inestimable privilege can possibly realise what good fortune it is to grow up in a home where there are grandparents."

"There's nothing like having a grandchild to restore faith to heredity."

"The reason grandchildren and grandparents get along so well is that they have a common enemy."

"Something magical happens when parents turn into grandparents. Their attitude changes from "money-doesn't-grow-on-trees" to spending it like it does."

"It would be more honourable to our distinguished ancestors to praise them in words less, but in deeds to imitate them more."

"Everyone needs to have access both to grandparents and grandchildren in order to be a full human being."

"The history of our grandparents is remembered not with rose petals but in the laughter and tears of their children and their children's children. It is into us that the lives of grandparents have gone. It is in us that their history becomes a future."

"My great grandfather used to say to his wife, my great-grandmother, who in turn told her daughter, my grandmother, who repeated it to her daughter, my mother, who used to remind her daughter, my own sister, that to talk well and eloquently was a very great art, but that an equally great one was to know the right moment to stop."

"Two things I dislike about my grandson — when he won't take his afternoon nap, and when he won't let me take mine."

"The birth of a grandchild is a wonderful and exciting event! That wonder and excitement continues throughout life."

"Grandfathers do have a special place in the lives of their children's children. They can delight and play with them and even indulge them in ways that they did not indulge their own children. Grandfather knows that after the fun and games are over with his adorable grandchildren he can return to the quiet of his own home and peacefully reflect on this phenomenon of fatherhood."

"The presence of a grandparent confirms that parents were, indeed, little once, too, and that people who are little can grow to be big, can become parents, and one day even have grandchildren of their own. So often we think of grandparents as belonging to the past; but in this important way, grandparents, for young children, belong to the future."

"You must teach your children that the ground beneath their feet is the ashes of your grandfathers. So that they will respect the land, tell your children that the earth is rich with the lives of our kin. Teach your children what we have taught our children, that the earth is our mothers. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth. 

"Our land is everything to us.... I will tell you one of the things we remember on our land. We remember that our grandfathers paid for it — with their lives."

"Grandparents are a family's greatest treasure, the founders of a loving legacy, The greatest storytellers, the keepers of traditions that linger on in cherished memory. Grandparents are the family's strong foundation. Their very special love sets them apart. Through happiness and sorrow, through their special love and caring, grandparents keep a family close at heart."

"Truth be told, there's nothing better than being a grandparent. All our elders know this and it is evidenced by that twinkle in their eyes. Of course, they know more than they let on — life's secrets have come to them through time, experience, and patience."

"A zest for life is one of the most important examples a grandparent can pass on to their grandchildren."