“I always thought that being a grandmother was a given,” says 61-year-old Ellis. “By the time my daughter turned 25, I had already started casually mentioning how much having little mini-hers running around my home would bring me so much joy. Whenever she visited, I would joke about how, before long, she would be dropping off my grandkids for the weekend.

“I could see it so clearly, holding a tiny hand on a walk, reading bedtime stories in a way I never got to with my own daughter, and spoiling them in ways I never could with her because that’s what grandparents do.

“At some point I even teased her about taking my age into consideration when having children because I did not want to be an old grandmother unable to keep up with my grandchildren’s youthful, chaotic energy that so many toddlers have. So, it was really shocking when, one day, my daughter casually mentioned that being a mother is not something she envisioned when she thought of her future.”