No Accounting for Fate: Linda Zimmerman Braves Grandmotherhood

It’s been eight years, but Linda Zimmerman can clearly remember the day her son told her he was going to be a dad. Christopher Jester was a senior at Grossmont High School, his girlfriend a foster kid, and they met Zimmerman in her driveway with a social worker by their side.

“I was at Jazzercise and on my way home,” said Zimmerman, an accountant for DYK Inc. “As soon as I saw them in the driveway with someone I didn’t know, I knew something was up.”

Zimmerman herself became a mother at 19, and says it broke her heart to see her son following in her footsteps. But she supported Jester and girlfriend Sheri, who graduated in June, got married in July and welcomed baby Gavin in August. They were married seven years and had son Wyatt before calling it quits.

And even though the situation wasn’t ideal, Zimmerman, 45, says definite perks come with being a young grandma. Having energy to do things with them is one.

“They’re like my second kids, but they’re a lot more fun,” she said while hanging at La Mesita Park and watching the children practice their batting and Razor scooter skills.

“And by the time they’re ready to have kids, I’ll still be young enough to be the age of a normal grandma!”