Every year since 2012 we have taken a holiday pajama pic with our four grands. This is our 2025 photo, and yes I know it is way early! We can't seem to synchronize a time to celebrate the holiday together. This year, our youngest is the tallest of the bunch and the oldest is the shortest, the two middles (only three weeks apart - are almost even). Life is going way too fast, but oh what fun!

Today Ganna and I were invited to do a classroom reading. It was so much fun to read to five-year-olds! My daughter Sara, who is an educator at the school, captured photos and a video recording. The video of us reading, quite amateurish because I don't have a video editor anymore, is still public on YouTube @BaaBaaYaYa.

Nothing to do with I Forget; I just love volunteering and working at Frank Lloyd Wright's first Prairie style home in Kankakee, Illinois. We held a Twilight Tour last evening, and everyone, volunteers and visitors, had a wonderful night. Information about our events and tours can be found at B. Harley Bradley House | Wright in Kankakee.

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(Our first holiday photo with all the grands in 2012). Payton - I hope you can laugh at yourself now and not want to kill me!)

I already mentioned in a couple of places that my four-year-old granddaughter (above) and I were looking for something to do - mostly ways to entertain her without a lot of physical movement, hiding or play acting on my part.  Anyway, we created I Forget, which got tucked away in a dresser drawer with other mementos for more than a decade.

We recently moved. We also did a lot of purging (we are at that age, and there's no easy way to say this, we did "death cleaning")! I've heard enough grumbling from adults cleaning out their parents' homes when the time came. I'm trying to avoid that grumbling and "why did they save this," and laughing over vintage items they would probably label as crap. "God-willing and the creek don't rise," I'm not planning to check out anytime soon!

I came across our original 'manuscript' while purging.

Part two of the story: I was in the State Universities Retirement System (SURS) and retired from our local community college. SURS had a Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) that basically cut Social Security benefits almost in half. This reduction recently came to an end because the Social Security Fairness Act of 2025 repealed the WEP. Yay! To make a long story a little shorter, anyone in the SURS received a lump sum check and an increase in Social Security.

Part three continues as such: I am turning 75; I'd say that is sort of a landmark birthday. I wanted to gift myself something special, and I decided that, with that surprise lump sum, I would like to try to self-publish Gianna's and my 13-year-old book. It meant researching companies that provide that service and hiring an illustrator. That process is a little difficult - so many sample illustrations, but if you are a children's author in need of an artist (not Ai), finding someone with what you have in mind can be a process.

I contacted a company specializing in bringing childrens's books to life from beginning to end, and they put me in touch with one of their colleagues, Will Robertson, also an author and illustrator. I took one look of his artwork and bravely asked him if it was possible to hire him. He agreed to illustrate I Forget and "hand-held' me through the entire process from beginning to end. Everyone who has seen the book loves his illustrations.

And, I did not forget Gianna. Some of her illustrations are most definitely included at the end of the book.

That's my story of a silly Yaya and her granddaughter creating a children's book together.

 

I Forget is dedicated to our four granddaughters (we are an all-girl family).

Our two daughters each have two daughters. I'll let you guess which is Gianna. The book is dedicated to Gianna, Payton, Emma and Piper (all teens now, oh my!).

Meet Gianna, who created the artwork for the original manuscript for which she has absolutely no recollection (because she is now 17)! Yes the book has been published 13 years later. Since her illustration days (or make that one day when she was at Yaya's house and we were trying to keep each other entertained), she has found her true passion in dance and plans to carry that on to the next chapter - college!

Gianna is a very good student, and although good at math, we don't understand why she still uses her fingers to count. Her BFF is Andrea, and her heart belongs to Spencer. We are quite sure she will never stop dancing. 

Pictured here is a much younger Ms G