My grandson sees me as Lois on TV every Christmas, and that scores me points.
I've got a 12-year-old grandson who, when he was 3 years old, before he could say many other words, could name the different kinds of dinosaurs.
I've been in the newspapers since I was about 15 - not for rapping, but for real substantive stuff I was doing in the community, organizing around gang violence in the schools. So I had already made my grandma proud before I was on TV. I've always been who I am.
My daughter wasn't into that type of rock music and kind of played it off. But then these teenage boys started coming around, and Led Zeppelin, I don't know, it became reinvented. Now she's very proud of her grandfather.
How do you know someone is a grandparent? They've got milk stains on every shirt from burping babies. Their pants are worn out at the knees from crawling around giving pony rides. They have 2,842 pictures of the grandkids on their smart phone and not one photo of their spouse.
It's sad that grandkids show up at the end of obituaries, way behind the list of work place achievements, social clubs and survivors. Why last? If you've got grandkids, you know they're first when it comes to the joy in your life.
I always picture my grandkids looking at their grandfather and saying, 'My grandfather was the last or the first to do something.' There's nothing like setting goals and watching yourself get there, accomplishing that goal and putting your name to a part of history.
