Our Catholic tradition holds that the parents of Mary were Sts. Joachim and Anne. While they are not mentioned in the Scriptures, we honor the tradition of their grandparenthood with a feast day on July 26. The Church’s recognition of this feast day and the importance of grandparenthood is a blessing in our disconnected world. Ten years ago, my own parents decided to move across the country from Colorado to Michigan to be near their grandchildren, and that decision has led to many blessings.

Like many Americans, I grew up far away from my grandparents. My parents moved to Colorado in the early 1980s, leaving their families behind in Missouri. My brother and I grew up seeing our grandparents and cousins once, maybe twice, a year.

In 2014, when my first child was born in Hillsdale (where we’d moved so I could work at Hillsdale College), I found myself watching my parents leave after an extended visit, thinking, “They should not be leaving. They should be here. We shouldn’t live so far apart!” Suddenly, their distance from us felt like more than an inconvenience.

A few months later, I saw a listing on Facebook for a beautiful house just outside of Hillsdale. It looked like the kind of house my parents would like — lots of wood and a “mountain cabin” feel. I sent them the link, adding off-handedly, “I think you’d like this house!” They did, but still lived in Colorado, where they had built a happy life over more than 30 years.

“When the idea came up we thought, ‘We can’t do this,’” my mom, Anne Schmitt, said. “But I remember clearly praying together, ‘If this is God’s will, let it happen,’ and everything fell into place.” Three months later, they moved into the house in Hillsdale. Both were able to work remotely for companies located in Colorado, which was lucky because remote work was not yet the norm. A few years later, my mom became the music minister at St. Anthony of Padua Church in Hillsdale. My dad is now officially retired, but he spends his time making beautiful wood furniture and artifacts for our family and church, including an Advent wreath, tenebrae candle holder, and stable for the church’s Nativity scene. (His middle name is Joseph — really.)

It’s hard to summarize what a blessing it has been to have my parents live in the same place as my children. In some ways, it feels like it shouldn’t be any other way. It feels natural and traditional. And yet, if you had told me when I was a student at Hillsdale College, more than 15 years ago, that I would eventually live in the same small, Midwestern town as my parents, my brother and his wife, and my nieces, I might have doubted your sanity.

The graces that have come from raising my children with my parents are numerous. From having “built-in” baby-sitters, to attending Mass with them every week, to having them present at all of the sacraments each child receives, to enjoying family dinner together every Sunday, we are building an intergenerational life founded in our Catholic faith.

“Grandchildren are this incredible, amazing blessing in your life — it’s like an abundance,” my mom said. Several friends of mine have also had their parents move to Hillsdale, citing the desire to be a part of the daily lives of their grandchildren, as well as for the tight-knit, joyful Catholic community found in Hillsdale and at St. Anthony’s.

Dan and Shelley Murnen moved to Hillsdale from Toledo last year to be near five of their grandchildren. They say they are glad to be a part of their grandchildrens’ daily lives — taking them to school, attending school concerts and baseball games, and celebrating birthdays with them. Additionally, Shelley said, she gets to be a part of the daily faith life of her children and grandchildren and the robust Catholic family of St. Anthony’s.

“Going to Mass with them is a real dream, and knowing their faith community is wonderful. It’s an exceptional community,” she said.

My mother, Anne, agrees, adding that she often has conversations about the faith with my kids and takes them to daily Mass if she’s babysitting. “The kids can look at us and see that they come from generations of Catholic people,” she said.

As part of her music ministry position, she conducts several children’s choirs, in which my older girls participate. It sounds funny, but great, when I hear children in the choir not only calling out “Mrs. Schmitt!” but also “Grandma!”