Your favourite grandparent

Luba · 07-11-2005, 08:06 PM

I wasn't fortunate enough to know three of my grandparents, but my Dad's mother was portrayed as a "witch" and I was so afraid of her. I used to run like the wind passed her little house to play with the neighbour. She died when I was around 10 and she seemed like a very unhappy woman to me. I guess that's why I posted this question, I longed always to have a relationship with a grandparent!

Star · 07-11-2005, 08:46 PM

I had excellent grandparents. I just lost my last living grandparent in the year 2001. I was fortunate to grow up with at least 3 of them.

My dad's dad died when i was 4 years old. I remember him as if i saw him yesterday. I was the first grandchild born so i was spoiled by everyone, especially my grandfather. i missed him my whole life and i loved him so much. He died of cancer.

My dad's mother was a very caring grandmother. everytime we went to visit (they live in a different province then we do), I'd sleep with her in her bed. It didn't matter to her that I was the worst person to sleep with, she wanted me to sleep with her and cuddle. She would spoil me rotten and was always very happy to see us and we couldn't stay anywhere but with her at her house. She passed when I was about 22 years old. She died of cancer.

My mother's dad was my quiet grandfather. I used to sit on his lap and he'd rock me for hours. He hardly talked at all but he smiled a lot. I remember him showing me his work in his workshop. he was a carpenter and made all his own furniture. he was very good at it too! I have a couple of things in my home that were made by his hands. He had a finger missing because he accidently cut it with his table saw. I used to ask him questions about it all the time and everytime, he'd answer those questions and never tired of it. He passed when I was 23. We don't know what he died from.

My mother's mom was extremely religious. She sewed everything, cooked awesome tasting chicken and baked cakes on a hot plate. She was an excellent cook. there wasn't a thing she couldn't make, even without having an oven. She had religious statues all over her house and prayed all the time. she went to church every day and brought me there with her quite often. She taught me how to sew, crochet, knit and she used to play board games with me. She's my only grandparent that got to see her great-grandchildren (mine only). I lost her when I was 36. She had parkinsons and didn't know who we were for the last 10 years of her life.

I was very fortunate to have my grandparents for as long as i did. I miss them all very much.

Luba · 07-11-2005, 09:21 PM

I love your story, Star! It is just beautiful! What a tribute to their lives that you remember them with such love, and such great memories!
Do you have many photos of them...sad to say, I don't even remember if I ever saw pictures of them, never of my Dad's father, for sure!

Vautrin · 07-12-2005, 05:02 AM

I have known all 4 of my grandparents. 2 of them lived in the same village, the other 2 lived only a 25-minute drive away.
Most of my family (grandparents, parents, grandchildren), live really closeby. So the bond in our families can hardly be overestimated.

I lost both my grandfathers when I was 15. My first experience with death. In the case of my paternal grandfather it was due to medical malpractice in all likelihood. I was actually named after him. Although he was a bit grumpy / jaded, his life story is fascinating. He lost his whole family in WW II. Not through death, but on the issue whether to fight or to support the Nazis. He chose to fight.
But he retained his sense of humor.

My other grandfather suffered from cancer, and died as a result of that, only 5.5 months later. He had been a farmer for all his life, although he was a real intelligent man. But in the days that he grew up, school was not a real option. I probably inherited my lefthandedness from him, not to mention a few character-traits that make it relatively easy to handle me. He was a really calm and collected man, and abhorred abuse - something which he suffered from during his youth.

My maternal grandmother died 2 months after she turned 80, also because of cancer. In that stage, she suffered quite a bit from dementia, which was of course troubling. She was a very warm woman, very affectionate, and always sympathising with the kids

. When I was about four years old I gave her a name I came up with - it ran through the family. A true artist, in the sense of dealing with people and situations.

I only have my parternal grandmother left. It is hard to characterize her, but she is a great woman. She is in her early seventies right now, so hopefully she will be around for quite some time.

Star · 07-12-2005, 08:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luba

I love your story, Star! It is just beautiful! What a tribute to their lives that you remember them with such love, and such great memories!
Do you have many photos of them...sad to say, I don't even remember if I ever saw pictures of them, never of my Dad's father, for sure!

My parents have a ton of pictures in photo albums of great-grandparents, grand-parents and people I never knew that are in our family tree. I also have a few here tucked away somewhere. I have them on my website also. my dad loves to visit my website just to see his parents and brother on there.

Vautrin, your grand-parents sound like very caring and warm people. I can only hope that one day my grand-children will remember me with such kind words and good memories filled with love and care.

I think grand-parents are so special in a child's life. I always had way more rspect for my grand-parents then i did my own parents. they always seemed so much wiser to me.

Duke · 07-12-2005, 01:05 PM

My Grandparents were taken away from me when I was still pretty young and thus I don't have too many memories of them. I was very fond of my Russian Grandmother and spent a lot of time at her house. It didn't matter that all the food was stale, or that there was very little to do in the way of entertainment, she was a great person to be around.

The grandparents on my fathers side of the family weren't so grand at all. In fact they were both selfish lunatics that put themselves in front of everyone else, always. I could care less about either of them and I wouldn't cross the street to piss on either of them if they were on fire.

Merika · 07-12-2005, 01:47 PM

I never saw my Grandparents in Germany again....after leaving there as a small child. I'm sure they were wonderful.

My paternal Grandparents in the US were odd southern people. My Grandfather was half retarded from accidentally drinking kerosene while fishing and my Grandma wasn't particularly loving towards me. She was all boney and scared me.

They are all dead now.

Adonaicole · 07-12-2005, 05:56 PM

My Grandpa was popeye the sailor man...toot...toot!

Duke · 07-12-2005, 07:52 PM

He farted lots?

Adonaicole · 07-13-2005, 11:10 AM

No he didn't fart lots, he smoked a pipe, had big musculs and was a sailor man. Didn't you ever watch pop-eye?

Duke · 07-13-2005, 12:36 PM

I watched it but t00t means farting lol.

Animal · 07-22-2005, 01:26 PM

since i never knew my dad or any of his family, and my mom's father died when she was 16 i've only gotten the priviledge of having one grandparent. she was such a great woman when i was little. i can remember having to go live with her for a while... (thats a whole other story) and i was always happy there, i never felt neglected or anything, but maybe i was too young to know what neglect was because now that i'm older i really dislike my grandmother, i've heard so many stories of when my mom was a kid.... grandma was horrible to them, she had nine kids, she would do stuff like give them valum to shut them up and i dont think they ever felt what it was like to have a full stomach, and i know that there was alot of kids and money might have been the issue but she could have done something better than smoking her life away, and i dont mean just cigarettes... i've realized that everything she says is a lie and she'll never change...

i love her and i'd cry if she died but i'm truely glad that she's old and can't really ruin anyone elses life.

Duke · 07-22-2005, 03:30 PM

Thats a sad story. I'm glad that you can still care for her even after gaining the knowledge of what she's done with her own kids. I can say that your a bigger person than I am because I hold grudges against people like this and wish I could change that trait, but can't.

Animal · 07-22-2005, 03:33 PM

if you think about it, everyone messes up, but some people mess up to the point of hurting others, you just have to learn how to forgive because a grudge between people usually does more bad than good

Duke · 07-24-2005, 06:25 PM

I'm not sure if I agree with that totally. I'd much rather avoid a person of this nature and not play the forgive and forget game. If someone wants to put "our past" behind us, then this person has to work at it and gain my respect again. I know that fogiving is a devine trait, but I'm not willing to pass it around like a chip bowl at a party because I think it will make me a better person.