A grandparent question...

[Diane]

Kat's post got me thinking about grandparents and our relationships/memories we have of them.

Did/do you have a good relationship with your grandparents? Did/do you live near them? How often did/do you get to see/visit with them? Any special memories you have of them?

I was raised with only one set of grandparents. My mom's parents passed away long before I was born, so we never met.

My grandma on my dad's side wasn't always the nicest/best grandma in the world... (she was considered a b!tch by many... LOL ) but I still hold a lot of wonderful memories of her.

We'd stop and visit with her (and my step grandfather) for a few days every year while we were on vacation. All four of us girls would sleep in one bed. We were small then, so it wasn't too bad. LOL The ceilings in the bedrooms were slanted to the point where whoever was sleeping on the end would bump their head if they weren't careful. My grandma had very long fingernails and always wore this bright red nail polish. She always wore dresses... never saw her in a pair of pants... even when she was gardening. She must have loved purses and costume jewelry, because she had plenty of both, which she gladly shared with us while we were there. Once in a while if she we were really good, she'd let us each pick out a purse or a piece of jewelry to take home with us. Whenever we'd go shopping... she’d buy each of us a pack of gum and/or some pop beads, which kept us busy for hours. LOL She always wore this short/curly wig... and we never ever saw her without it. She was also a great cook. I remember sitting up to that big old table of hers to eat. Of course... we had to be very careful not to drop anything on the floor and would be in trouble if we did. (especially if it were our milk) I guess I have a lot more good memories of her than I thought I did. LOL

[angie r]

Mother's side - My grandfather passed away when I was 2. My grandmother was wonderful. We spent lots of time with her and even lived in her home for a while. I remember neat things like snuggling up in her bed in the morning with my brothers and she'd always say "3 peas in a pod," she let us drink folgers coffee in the morning and cut oranges into slices so we could have an orange peel smile, she'd let us stay up and watch the Tonight Show, she'd buy me garanimals clothes, (which I loved!). She played the piano with me, oh how I loved that! Thanks for the walk down memory lane... She passed away when I was 12.

Father's side - My grandmother passed before I was born. My grandfather passed when I was in my lower 20's. I rarely saw my grandfather unless we were at a reunion of some sort even though we lived in the same city. I always heard great things about him, he was a minister, but he wasn't a grandfather to me. He remarried after his wife passed and had another child who is younger than I am. I suppose he was busy raising his second family.

[KarlaB]

Mom's side - They lived on a farm and didn't have much $, but they had the biggest hearts and always wanted to send us out the door with something - whether it was home baked goodies or 25 cents! My gma cooked and baked on a wood burning stove until the day she left the farm. They had 14 kids of their own and a boatload of grandkids and my gpa hd a nickname for ALL of us!! He died when I was in jr high and my gma died when I was in highschool - still miss them dearly.

Dad's side - They lived 4 hours away, so visits were pretty much only on holidays or if they made the trip to MN, but I did spend a week with them each summer. My gpa died shortly after dh and I got married. It was devastating for me. My gma is still alive and is in her 80's but seems like she's in her 60's - still very active and 'hip'. Very loving people and still so in love with each other when my gpa died.

I also have 4 step-gparents (all still alive), but I am not close to any of them which is odd to me since both of my parents were re-married by the time I was in 2nd grade.

[littlesista06]

Mother's side: my g'father died before most of us were born. My g'mother was old ever since I can remember. lol Very set in her ways and not loving at all.

Father's side: very well off, and outgoing, etc. but my parents divorced when I was about 6, so I did not have much of a relationship with them after that.

Our dd has it MADE. All g'parents live here, love her dearly and she has amazing connections with my mom and dh's dad. She's making memories she'll carry with her forever.

[Fern]

My mom's mom died when I was about 18 months old, so no memories of her. All my other grandparents died at very young ages, long before I was ever born. So I grew up with no grandparent memories.

[AnnW]

I have wonderful grandparent memories!!! Both sets lived here. My dad's parents did most of the babysitting when I was younger...my parents traveled alot. Plus they were the ones who took us to the zoo, circus and rodeo every year. My dad's dad was super sentimental and a newspaperman/author so he wrote all these wonderful letters to me throughout the years. I was his 'Princess' and my brother was 'Tiger'. He died when I was a junior in college. My mom's dad and my dad's mom died when I was in 5th grade. My cousins lived with my mom's parents so they didn't babysit for us too much when we were little, but my mom's mom did when we were in high school. She is the one who lived to be almost 100 and who baby sat for me when ds was little!!!
As an adult, all my girl relatives (grandmother, aunt, mom, cousin) and I would go out for lunch with the kids and on our own for girls' night out.

Hopefully, my kids have good early memories of their grandparents.

[kat]

I'm loving this post but will have to really reply later.

[Leigh]

I'm loving this post but will have to really reply later.

Me too (too short)!

[Linda/NE]

What a neat post!!

I lived right next door to my mom's parents since I was 2. (I am now living in their house and my folks are right next door so my kids are getting the same kind of experience I had). My grandma was overweight but refused to go to a doctor until she had a stroke and had no choice. Before that though I used to go over to see her everyday. We'd just sit and visit. If the kids at school were mean to me I could go and talk to her and she'd make me feel better. She always had M&M's in the china hutch and Grandpa always had lemonade or Coke for us to drink. Grandma bought us Christmas gifts every year and we opened them on Christmas eve at our house. Thanksgiving was always at her house in the evening and we always went over and helped her clean all day. She was a night owl and often said she dreamed about food. I think I take after her. I'm no where near as overweight as she was but a lot of my life revolves around food like if we have to go somewhere I have to have it figured out when/where/what we're going to eat. I'm a night owl too. I absolutely LOVE the middle of the night. Grandma was always very generous--my mom is much the same way. She died in 92 and my grandpa died on Feb. 12 --8 years ago (on ds #1's 8th birthday)

My dad's side was harder to get to know. My grandpa had a heart attack when I was a baby so he was pretty inactive. I probably got to know him the most the last few years of his life when I was in high school and college and took my Grandma up to the nursing home to see him. He died Feb. 18, 1987.(wow 19 years already!) My grandma has never been afraid to tell us what she thinks and she was very blunt and direct. I was always kind of scared of her. After grandpa passed away and I grew up more I don't know if she felt sorry for me or what but she kind of took me under her wing. She gave me a quilt she had someone make for her. She also gave me a nightlight picture of Jesus. She would 'brag' about me to other people and seemed so proud of what I'd done--especially since opening the preschool. My sisters always teased me that I was her favorite. She just turned 98 last October. I think what I remember most about her is always getting candy bars when I came to her house, watching fireworks from her front yard on the 4th of July and butchering chickens.

I really didn't know my grandpas that well. Actually I really don't know my dad that well. I'm almost scared of him at times. That actually could explain a lot about me huh?

[vea29]

I'm loving this post but will have to really reply later.

Ilove this too.

That post made me think of my grand parents too. Actually I was thinking of them before that....strange!

Mom's side~ both passed away when my mom was a teenager.

Dad's Side~ They were great. I remember my grandmother being the greatest lady...sweetest women...just dont mouth off or you were in trouble with everyone. Old Italian Family. I remember us visiting because when we were really young we lived in the next town. we used to sit with my mother and grandmother in the kitchen and have a half cup of coffee and socialbles tea cookies.

Grandpa spent alot of time in the basement Painting (he was a sign painter), or in his chair playing solataire and watching tv. He taught us how to make these little folded cups he used to paint.

We spent alot of time building card houses on the step...because the carpet was so plush it made it easy.

Ok now I'm happy.

[Diane]

Ilove this too.We spent alot of time building card houses on the step...because the carpet was so plush it made it easy.

Ok now I'm happy.

We use to spend a lot of time building card houses too. Use to get them way high before my sister would "accidently" blow them down. LOL Forgot all about them until you mentioned it.

[Melody]

My memories of grandparents are bittersweet and I'm working on letting the bitter part go.
Dad's side: His parents are alive in the same city as my parents are living. Growing up I saw them a few times since we lived in a different province. We lived near them for about 6 months (in Manitoba) when I was 2 but my dad got work in Alberta so we moved. They came to visit us a couple of times out there, we went to visit when I was 7 and then saw them on the way through when we moved to Ontario when I was 11. They came to Ontario a few times to visit, for weddings mostly. No great relationship with either of them, they were nice, took us places or for treats but not very affectionate. I've seen them each time I go to visit my parents, I call once in a while but the calls are very short, they cut them that short. Think they figure it is too expensive. lol They always send my kids cards at Christmas/birthdays so the boys phone to say thank you.

Mom's side: I have one memory of her dad when I was 7. It's very brief. He died by the time we got to Ontario when I was 11 (he died the week we were driving out here). I took his death hard at the funeral, his was the first I had gone to. Her mom is still alive, just saw her last month when I went with my mom. I have more memories of her from family reunions and weekend trips while we lived in Ontario. She was always a party gal, out for a good time. Bittersweet memories of her, she had a way of acting like my brothers and I were not welcome. She treated my mom the same, maybe because my mom didn't have a case of beer at the ready, who knows. I hadn't spoke to her since before I had ds2 and he's almost 10. I thought that if she passed I could handle it, I was done trying but when I saw her last month it was a different story. Still trying to make myself phone her again before it's too late.
Great grandparents, I only knew my dad's grandmother (on his dad's side) for a short time. Same as my mom's grandmother (her mom's mom). They died a short time within each other. No real memories of either, just brief.

I was determined that my kids would have better memories than what I had of grandparents but it's getting tough. Mil passed a couple years ago so the boys will have those early memories, ds3 won't have any. They do see fil as much as we can and they still talk to my parents on the phone as much as possible. They were very close to my mom and dad before they moved and stayed in touch by spending hours on the phone after they left. They would even play UNO on the phone with my kids. lol The boys are very close to my mom and dad but I call them every day so at some point through the week, they get on the phone.

[BevJ]

The only grandparent I knew was my Dad's mom (the others passed away years before I was born). I didn't know her well. She was 64 when I was born. She lived in the same city, but she had 10 children who all had like 4-6 kids each themselves so there were a lot of cousins I had to share her with, lol. I remember her home smelling like roses. I remember a big deer head on the wall in her basement rec room and I remember pea**** feathers on the tv in her living room. She used to wear a wig too Diane, only hers was grey, lol. She loved to go bowling and she was always on the go (her kids nicknamed her Gracie-a-go-go). When she gave the house up and moved to an apartment, I remember watching wrestling on tv with her. She died in 1980 or 81, so I was 15 or 16 years old.

[RCT]

my mothers mother didn't approve of "us adopted kids" those were her words the one and only time my mother took us to Boston to meet her.....

my Fathers dad passed away before I was born.
his mother was very old...always old....lived in NC all my life....no real relationship....

My mothers father, lived here in CA and had been married 5 different times...but his fith wife...my grandma....was awesome...she would take my brother and I for a week each summer....grandpa was a quiet man....but gram was cool....she taught my brother and I macromae one summer...I still have the plant hanger I made....we saw them quiet often....good grandparents.....he died the year afer my mother...he had alshymers, so the last I saw him, he didnt' know me.....

Gram is in a home near her daughters...also has alshymers.....very sad....

my kids....get got a short stick.....dh's mother is old...and has 21 other grandchildren and 6 great grandchildren...so the grandmother facter well has unfortunetly worn off.....and we are now so far away....

my Father and his wife...are great when we are with them....but we aren't with them much......

[angie r]

my mothers mother didn't approve of "us adopted kids" those were her words the one and only time my mother took us to Boston to meet her.....

How hideous! Is she still alive?