Happy shouts and laughter fill the cafeteria at Locust Grove Baptist Church in New Market, Alabama — a small town just outside of Huntsville, in the northern part of the state.
While the grandparents eat dinner, their grandchildren chase each other around the tables.
They call themselves “grandfamilies.” Everyone here knows each other.
It’s the quarterly meeting of a group called Grandparents as Parents , a time when they can get the kids together and catch up over spaghetti, Caesar salad, and homemade chocolate mud pie.
But beneath all the joyful camaraderie lie tough stories. These personal histories and traumas bubble up casually, as they can in conversations between people with shared experiences.
“My daughter is addicted to drugs,” explains Donna Standridge.
She’s seated at a table with her husband, Jeff. Between bites, she’s keeping an eye on one of her grandsons. He’s desperate for her attention, hanging onto her arm, crying “ Mawmaw! Mawmaw! Mawmaw !” as she tries to eat and talk.