What do jam cookies, knitted sweaters in rainbow colors and fishing in farm ponds remind you of ? I am sure they remind you of the great times that you have spend with your grandparents. It's without any shred of doubt that the memories of our childhood are closely associated with that of our grandparents. Today, some grandparents choose to live with their families, others prefer to live by themselves in their own homes, or retirement homes. But no matter where ever they live, they always hold a special place in the hearts of their families and loved ones.

The legacy that we as grandchildren and great grandchildren carry forward has a special place in our every day lives. This thought was also reinforced by Marian McQuade, a housewife in Fayette County, West Virginia. The mother of 15 children, she felt the need to set aside a special day, a day that would honor and champion the cause of the lonely and the elderly in the nursing homes. Celebrated on the first Sunday after Labor Day, she hoped that every grandchildren would love and appreciate the storehouse of knowledge and heritage that their grandparents possessed, and consequently passed onto them. Have we ever wondered that what is so special about grandparents that make them so dear ! Is it the happiness they simply provide without asking, is it the aroma of warmth and special treats mixed with copious quantities of love that comes so freely, those shared secrets that were never to be told to mom and dad or is the touch that manages to soothe the most frazzled of nerves ? A house filled with grandchildren, love and laughter is the perfect heaven for these loving hearts, they look forward to the same love, affection, happiness that they so freely give themselves.

We are not always lucky to get both the grandparents to ourselves, but the love and affection that is received from either of the grandparents is neither less nor in anyway diminished with time. It's very often seen that the elderly live in the hope of seeing and being with their children and grandchildren. Sometimes the twilight years of their lives are totally devoted in keeping themselves happy in the achievements of their family members. Very often becoming a grandparent is the biggest joy of their lives. Their contribution to our lives are without complain ! How often have they borne the brunt of our anger and unreasonableness with smiles, how very often we have taken them for granted and used them for our own ends... like keeping the children busy after school, making them do their homework and also keeping them entertained in the absence of the parents. The warmth of grandma's hug, the endless supply of tasty treats, grandpa's lessons on fly-fishing or bicycle riding never fail to bring back the sweet memories of those summer holidays that we would so eagerly look forward too !

Living a life surrounded with the warmth of family, with happiness being the goal of life is an euphoria that few can achieve in this materialistic world. It's not easy to balance a demanding career with a sometime demanding family life too. But yet, we all have our sounding boards in our grandparents ! They are always there to advice, love, show the way, soothe and shower happiness. What would we do without them ? When they say that their biggest happiness lies in becoming grandparents, isn't it our turn too to make sure that a definite part of our time goes in making them happy, to make them feel important, to make them feel loved and special ? It just takes about a little effort to keep them smiling... all they need is a li'l time from us and assurance that they are special to us in every way.

So get going... make your gran' mom and gramps feel on top of the world ! You can make them feel special and important by keeping them posted with all the happenings in your life and make sure others do the same by encouraging them to visit various Ecard sites such as 123Greetings.com.