This is our Story – a Grandfamilies’ song
Our Song: A GrandFamily Story Told in Music When a child comes into your care unexpectedly whether after trauma, loss, or family upheaval, it can feel like the ground has shifted beneath your feet. Suddenly you’re navigating legal systems, packing school lunches, and comforting a child who’s grieving something they can’t quite name. And you’re doing it while carrying your own heartbreak.
Why This Song Exists
Because music holds what words can’t always carry. Some songs are written with rhyme. This one was written with real life. Coffee stains and wrinkles frame the bags around the eyes.
As I continue on my journey not only as a caregiver to my grandson, but as founder and supporter for others like me here at GrandFamily World, I felt the need to express some of the emotions visually. Musically. So I started writing… Not another blog article. Not another book chapter. Not a speech or lecture.
A song. Imagine that!
The Making of Our Song
This piece began as a series of simple reflections. Lines scribbled down at my desk, or dictated into my voicenotes on my phone. Whispers from conversations with other GrandRaisers over the phone, in person or in our GrandFamily Village.
What started randomly became a mosaic of truth, grief, tenderness… and that strange, quiet joy that sometimes catches us off guard. I think it speaks about our tenacity, our resilience, our pain and our children’s pain.
Set to a gentle AI generated folk-pop tune, I hope the vocals (although clearly AI) still reflect the shared story of this caregiving role.
It’s not just a grandmother’s journey. Or a grandfather’s. It’s a community’s.
I hope it reflects the many faces and voices of a growing population: GrandRaisers who show up, even when they never planned to.
So this is dedicated to you. A song for every grandparent who’s found themselves starting over at a time they thought they’d be slowing down. It’s for the midnight bottle warmers, the guardianship papers signers, the bedtime storytellers… the ones carrying what’s broken and patching it with love.
Whether you’ve been in this role for years or are just beginning the journey, this song is for you. Let it be your reminder:
You are not alone.
You are part of something strong, steady, and beautiful.
You are helping to rewrite what love looks like… when it stays.
We Rise Together – Full Lyrics
Written by Mary Scheidegger
Music and vocals generated with AI guidance to reflect the heart of GrandFamilies
This wasn’t the plan.
But the need was clear.
So we opened our arms…
and pulled them near.
They came with questions,
with hurt in their eyes
and we answered with love,
with truth,
with time.
These aren’t just children.
They are echoes of us.
The children of our children
a second chance
to do what love does.
We are the keepers of lullabies
and midnight fears,
the ones who show up
through the hardest years.
Not because it’s easy.
Not because we were ready.
But because we are steady.
Because we are fierce.
Because we are still here.
We carry what’s broken
and hold it with care.
We patch what we can.
We breathe healing air.
We are rewriting the story
of what could have been:
for their future,
for our families,
for the roots we tend.
This journey we walk
isn’t marked on a map.
It twists.
It bends.
It circles back.
But side by side,
with hope in our hands,
we shape the days
no one else planned.
We rise together… hand in hand,
Loving more than most understand.
We carry their fears, their songs, their names,
Through grief and light, through loss and flames.
Unshakable threads
bind us forever…
We’re GrandFamilies.
We rise together.
Our strength isn’t loud
but it lasts.
It builds bridges
from pain
to peace,
from sorrow
to joy.
We rise together.
But more than that…
Together, our strength shapes generations to come.
Together, we’re rewriting what love looks like when it stays.
Together, we are not just surviving…
We are choosing love, resilience… and hope.
This is the legacy.
This is the journey.
This is the story…
We’re rewriting.
💛 Help It Reach the Ones Who Need It Most
If this song speaks to your story — or someone you love — please share it. One click could help another Grandparent raising their grandchildren feel seen and strong.
🎥 Watch the video → https://youtu.be/cF75Ty-DFNo
🏡 Join the Village → https://grandfamilyworld.com
