Melodie Miller Davis

I held a five-month-old Iraqi child in my lap for almost a half hour last week. Any long-distance grandma knows how we ache to hold our own grandchildren, and leap at any opportunity to snuggle another woman’s child or grandchild. The clothes closet our church runs was busier than ever, since it was the last time we’d be open before Christmas.

I was just 17 when we moved away from the farm where I grew up. Funny how things change with the perspective of a lifetime....