While searching through some photos, I came across a picture of my grandparents holding their new baby, Ann. As they held my mother they could not see the generations that they held in their arms and the far reaching effects of the love they would give.
Grandpa was just starting his education and it would be years of school and working in Washington D.C. before he became a professor of political science at the University of Utah.
Grandma was beautiful, poised, quick to laugh and unafraid of hard work. The years would yet reveal the mettle under her surface that allowed her to meet great challenges with grace and a smile.
One afternoon when my children were young, we were visiting Grandpa and Grandma. As we pulled out of their driveway my son called out, “Slow down, Mom, this is my favorite part!” I looked up to see my grandparents standing in the picture window of their front room, blowing kisses as we
drove away. It was a scene I had witnessed for as long as I can remember, a simple gesture to convey their love repeated over and over again.
“Frequently it is the commonplace tasks…that have the greatest positive effect on the lives of others, as compared with the things that the world so often relates to greatness.” (President Dallin H. Oaks, April 2018) The smallest expression or a simple act repeated over and over can incrementally change hearts, minds, and lives through generations.