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Old 03-16-2010, 08:44 AM
 
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Good thread...

My parents had me late in life, so I never got to know either of my grandfathers, but I was very blessed to have both of my grandmothers.

My mom's mom, aka Nana, used to live in the apartment complex my parents managed when I was little. She lived about 6 doors down from our house. I would hang out at home until my mom gave me lunch. Then, I would hop on my big wheel and pedal my way down to Nana's. As soon as I would get there, Nana would ask if I had lunch yet. The answer was always "no" and Nana would whip up a PB+J and a big glass of chocolate milk for me. It took them a couple weeks to catch on to what I was doing, lol. After that I had to pick one or the other for lunch, I always picked Nana because she made the best chocolate milk. She moved to California to stay with my mom's older sister and that is where she passed away, but we did get to see her quite a few times after moved before she passed.

My dad's mom was an excellent baker and cookies were in no short supply at her house. I remember going over there and having a glass of buttermilk and fresh chocolate chip cookies that she would bake for me. The train tracks ran behind her house and we used to go out in the backyard to work in the garden and waive to the conductors as they went by. She eventually had to sell her house and move into a senior citizens apartment building, but she always kept up with the baking. I remember stepping off the elevator and you could smell the cookies. She also used to keep a box of tin soldiers, cowboys and indians with a little tin ranch house that used to be my dad's. It wasn't nearly as cool as the toys I had at home, but I spent hours playing with that set on the living room floor when we would visit. She passed away when I was 15, but I'll never forget the memories we had. I just wish that she could have lived long enough to meet my kids.
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Old 03-16-2010, 09:11 AM
 
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I appreciate reading the memories all of you have of your grandparents. There's something endearing and perfect of our recollections of Grandma and Grandpa, for the most part. It's easy to see that somehow grandparents bring back a feeling of comfort.

Sparksharp, even though you don't have those memories, your grandkids will. That four year old will remember more than you think.
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Old 03-16-2010, 09:12 AM
 
Location: Philaburbia
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My mom's father emigrated from Italy. He died when I was in kindergarten, but I remember some things about him: the Italian songs he'd sing to me when I fell down the stairs or when Grandma spanked me (); he could blow smoke out of his ears; my tottering around after him in his big vegetable garden.

My dad's father was a jokester. He'd play the "big shiny nickel, dirty little dime" game on me, and I fell for it every time. He could also pull a quarter out from behind his ear, or from his cuff. That fascinated me. He also put ketchup on everything, which repulsed me, LOL. He died when I was 10.

My grandmothers both lived another 25+ years after their husbands died; they died within three weeks of each other. My dad's mother was the one who would brag about her grandchildren -- at her funeral, I sat down with a bunch of her canasta buddies and introduced myself. They knew darn well who I was, and they also everything about me -- where I lived, what I did for a living, etc. Gram liked beer, and liked a good head on it as well. She used to yell at me for pouring her beer down the side of the glass -- my protests that I went to college for four years to learn how to pour beer properly fell on deaf ears. When I was younger, I'd totter around with her as she went "down the street" to do her errands and marketing, and she rewarded me with a treat or a comic book. My sister and I were the only grandchildren that didn't live in the same town, but we never felt slighted or a lack of attention.

My mom's mother was the family matriarch to the nth degree -- it was her way or the highway! She mellowed as she got older, but she still would let loose on my mom and my aunts if they didn't do things to her liking. She was much older than my other grandmother, and I never thought she was as much "fun", but once I got older she started telling me stories about her youth and young adulthood, which were great to listen to and helped me appreciate her (as I should have in the first place!). She had an insatiable love of hard candy -- when I came to visit I'd bring a sack of candy and some zucchini from my garden.

A memory I'll always treasure was at my mom's mother's 100th birthday party. We invited my other grandmother to come along, and they hadn't seen each other probably in 20 years. Watching them greet each other was something special indeed. I was blessed to have them in my life for so long.
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Old 03-16-2010, 01:00 PM
 
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Where to start? Wow! I'm now sitting here reminicsing. My Grampa lived by a golf course, in fact, he was a mason and helped build the clubhouse and all the outbuildings on the course. I was the youngest grandchild and the only girl. Needless to say, I was left out alot. Grampa would take us grandkids out on the course for walks everytime we visited. All of us grandkids made it a game to look for "lost" golf balls. Whoever found the most got a special treat from Grampa. Well, being the youngest and the only girl, I was always left behind. Grampa always walked with me, telling me he was so glad that I "stayed" behind to walk with him because he was a little slower. Grampa would see that I was sad and he would go off the green and walk around in the weeds for a bit then he would call me over and tell me that he thought this was the best spot to look for golf balls. Lo and behold, I would hit the jackpot. Even though my brothers and cousins were far ahead of us and alot faster at finding golf balls, I always seemed to come back to Grampas house with the most and always got the special treat. It wasn't until I visited Grampa with my own children and saw all the other great grandchildren leaving the youngest (my son) behind that I discovered Grampas secret. Before going on our golf ball hunts, Grampa would go downstairs and fill his pockets with golf balls. As the other kids were racing to get the most golf balls, Grampa walked off the green, stomped around in the weeds for a bit and called my son (who was in tears as he hadn't found any balls) over and told him to really look around in the weeds here cause GrampaGreat just KNOWS this is a good spot. Grampa had dug a hole in the pockets of his pants and would secretly drop the golf balls down the leg of his pants. I stood there smiling at Grampa as I had just discovered his secret. Grampa just smiled and winked at me, put his finger up to his mouth and continued to help my son find golf balls. The littlest one came back with the most yet again. Grampa later told me that it taught the older kids that maybe leaving the little guy behind isn't always that smart and that always rushing to get somewhere causes you to miss out on alot of great things. That was our last golf ball hunt with him. Grampa is gone now, his house has a new family in it, but once a year we take our children to that golf course to have a golf ball hunt. And before we go, I put a few extra golf balls in my pockets.....
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Old 03-16-2010, 01:28 PM
 
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My paternal grandfather died twenty years before I was born. My paternal grandmother when I was one...

But I was so blessed on my mother's side. Her parents, the quintessential sum greater than the separate equal parts were the most loving, healing, giving I or any of us could have hoped for. When I was a kid my parents divorced, so I along with my mother moved into her parents' house. This was after a lot of emotional turbulence, and at a time when most kids my age had both of their parents living under the same roof, I felt conspicuously different, not as good as the other kids; the word that defined it for me then, as a kid not yet even in grade school, was "dirty". I felt dirty; all kids on one level or another blame themselves for a break-up.

My grandparents saved me. Not to say that my mother and my father too when I saw him weren't good to me, they were. But my grandparents always made me feel normal, so nurturing, without making that conspicuous at all. I could go into specifics like day long car trips to the country with my Pop-pop, who taught me how to fish, who showed me there was a world outside of our poor inner city neighborhood, who struck up conversations with strangers as easily as if he'd known them all his life. Or my grandmother, who was the best Italian cook I've ever come across, even all these years later, whose kitchen was always busy, and often drew relatives and neighbors, people she fed like royalty anytime they happened to be sitting at her kitchen table. They are hard to characterize in words; just to say that no matter who you were, they didn't judge you. It was a rare individual that could fall out of their good graces and so in turn people were grateful. They gave most everyone the love that we all need, but so few of us get. They are both gone now, as are my mother and father, and I miss them all.
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Old 03-16-2010, 01:48 PM
 
14,780 posts, read 43,473,541 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by magoomafoo View Post
Where to start? Wow! I'm now sitting here reminicsing. My Grampa lived by a golf course, in fact, he was a mason and helped build the clubhouse and all the outbuildings on the course. I was the youngest grandchild and the only girl. Needless to say, I was left out alot. Grampa would take us grandkids out on the course for walks everytime we visited. All of us grandkids made it a game to look for "lost" golf balls. Whoever found the most got a special treat from Grampa. Well, being the youngest and the only girl, I was always left behind. Grampa always walked with me, telling me he was so glad that I "stayed" behind to walk with him because he was a little slower. Grampa would see that I was sad and he would go off the green and walk around in the weeds for a bit then he would call me over and tell me that he thought this was the best spot to look for golf balls. Lo and behold, I would hit the jackpot. Even though my brothers and cousins were far ahead of us and alot faster at finding golf balls, I always seemed to come back to Grampas house with the most and always got the special treat. It wasn't until I visited Grampa with my own children and saw all the other great grandchildren leaving the youngest (my son) behind that I discovered Grampas secret. Before going on our golf ball hunts, Grampa would go downstairs and fill his pockets with golf balls. As the other kids were racing to get the most golf balls, Grampa walked off the green, stomped around in the weeds for a bit and called my son (who was in tears as he hadn't found any balls) over and told him to really look around in the weeds here cause GrampaGreat just KNOWS this is a good spot. Grampa had dug a hole in the pockets of his pants and would secretly drop the golf balls down the leg of his pants. I stood there smiling at Grampa as I had just discovered his secret. Grampa just smiled and winked at me, put his finger up to his mouth and continued to help my son find golf balls. The littlest one came back with the most yet again. Grampa later told me that it taught the older kids that maybe leaving the little guy behind isn't always that smart and that always rushing to get somewhere causes you to miss out on alot of great things. That was our last golf ball hunt with him. Grampa is gone now, his house has a new family in it, but once a year we take our children to that golf course to have a golf ball hunt. And before we go, I put a few extra golf balls in my pockets.....
That was a really beautiful story.
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Old 03-17-2010, 09:15 AM
 
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When my grandmother died a few years ago, we started a tradition with our kids involving coins. If they find a penny on the ground, we tell them it's from Grandma and then we save it to throw in a wishing fountain. We always whisper, "We love you Grandma when we throw it in."
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Old 03-17-2010, 09:44 PM
 
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Guess I've been missing my grandparents lately. These stories from all of you are bringing tears to my eyes.
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Old 03-20-2010, 04:25 PM
 
Location: Wisconsin
677 posts, read 1,614,735 times
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My maternal grandparents have both passed away, but my mom and brother live in their house. I really like that the house has history behind it. When I think of my grandmother I think of Angel Food cake, country music shows, The Price is Right...She had lots of games and dolls for myself, brother and cousins to play with. My grandfather was always in the garage drinking beer and listening to polka music. He often wore trucker hats and had a fantastic red desk that he always sat at when smoking cigarettes. My mom repainted the desk and put new hardware on it, it's still in her dining room. I remember them always taking my brother and I to a local restaurant where I still frequently go.

As much as I want to move away from here, it is kind of nice having all of these memories in one place.

I rarely see my paternal grandparents. My grandmother lives a few states away, I should really visit her soon. She loves reading, which makes me incredibly happy because I am the only one among my parents and brother who enjoys literature. She would always send me books on my birthday. I have very few memories of my grandfather. They used to live in Florida which was awesome. It was always like a vacation when we went to visit them. They lived in a trailer/ranch type house and had lots of puzzles.

Great thread
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Old 03-20-2010, 04:46 PM
 
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My grandmother used to take my brother, sister and me for walks in the woods and fields. We would pick wild strawberries and she always put them in her apron then when we got back to the house she made strawberry shortcake.

She would come in the fall and we children picked grapes so she could make jelly for us. We picked apples and she made pies. Grandma could make anything.

She once made a burnt flour potato soup that was the best soup I'd ever had. I still look for a recipe that is like what she did and have never found one.
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