ELLEN SCHUR BROWN

Cleveland Jewish News

Marlene Sobol wasn’t exactly surprised when her adult daughter announced she was filing for divorce. But the grandmother was delighted to have her daughter and two young grandchildren temporarily move back in with her and her husband Cliff in their Beachwood home. “They lived with me for a year, and I got to be a big part of their lives,” says Sobol. She recalls that although the divorce was difficult for all the adults, having her grandchildren with her for daily meals and bedtime stories was “a wonderful experience.”

Sobol naturally sided with her daughter as the marriage broke apart. But that year, she learned that, as the grandparent, she had to set aside her own bitter feelings and allow her grandchildren to love both their parents. “My grandson said to us, ‘You don’t like my daddy very much,’ and it broke my heart,” she recalls. “It was important for him that we didn’t hate his dad. After that, I tried to build up his father so he wouldn’t be so uncomfortable.”

Source: http://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/articles/2010/01/29/news/local/doc4b61f4f8e879d948968009.txt