Tell me about your favorite grand parent

[PoohsPal]

Sorry, step back in time remembering watching The Many Adventures of WInnie the Pooh in Grandma's room at my aunt's house. SHe was special for many reasons, but I'd like to here one of 2 of the things that made your favorite grandparent special.

1. My grandma used to ride btwn my bother and I in the back seat for cross-country vacations and we're both still alive. The woman had the patience of a saint.

2. She loved commercials just like me! I never knew that until a year or 2 before she died.

PS - This does not mean I did not love my other grandparents, but this grandma was really something special.

[dianeschlicht]

My grandmother was a great woman. She was a hard working farm wife who did a lot to shape my life. She passed away 4 years ago at the age of 93, and I still miss her dearly. Her one regret was that she outlived her only child (my mother). She is possibly the most influencial person to me.

[bavaria]

Awww.... what a great thread.

I had lunch yesterday with my favourite grandparents - I am blessed to still have both my mother's parents (Grandmother married at 16!!)

My early memories are of car trips through Bavaria with them, singing all kinds of songs. They fostered a love of travel and appreciation of new things in me, and fully support taking time off to explore the world. They moved several times in their lives and encourage new horizons.

They also taught me alot about hard work and discipline, as well as risk taking.

I was hoping to take them to WDW this December for the first time, but with my schedule it didn't happen (I just booked them another trip to Hawaii instead)

And they are the only family members who know about my DVC purchase, since they appreciate that I bought them!!

[TW1]

My mom's parents were real gems. They were deeply devoted to each other and their huge extended family. Both came from large families and they kept in close contact with all of their siblings, cousins, neices, nephews etc. They often made sure this big group would get together so we would get to know each other. And these are the times growing up I remember most - huge picnics with all sorts of crazy relatives I never knew I had. At one point I realized I was related by marriage to this girl in my high school because of these parties (which was pretty cool cause everyone liked her and her family!)

Anyway, they were always over at our house, just hanging out, cooking, playing with us, driving us anywhere we needed to go, etc. My grandfather taugth us all about baseball, too. He played on a farm team for the Brooklyn Dodgers and knew a few players who went on to greatness. His best man became a scout for the Pittsburgh Pirates and we often went to Shea Stadium to see them play the Mets. We'd sit right over the visitor's dugout and get signed baseballs, etc. One is even signed by Roberto Clemente!

They taught us how to play poker, loved ice cream sodas, would take us to the movies, and more. They were the kindest, most patient people I ever met.

When my sibs and I get together we invariably talk about them and how much we miss them.

[dianeschlicht]

(Grandmother married at 16!!)

So was mine!! That was back in 1922 though, so folks married younger then.

[PoohsPal]

DOn't know about grandma I mention, but other grandma married at 17. The law was 18 w/o parents consent and she put her foot down and forced her parents to sign. She was a spunky one!

[dianeschlicht]

LOL, when my parents married in 1945, you had to have a parent's signature if the woman was under 18 or the man was under 21. Not sure why the age difference, but my parents were married a week before my Dad turned 21, so his parents had to sign for him! He was being sent over seas with the Army, so they got married on his furlough.

[PoohsPal]

if the woman was under 18 or the man was under 21

Come on Diane, we all know why. Darn immature guys! lol! ;)

[bavaria]

So was mine!! That was back in 1922 though, so folks married younger then.

Mine got married almost 20 years after that, during the war. She'd only met him a few times... and had my mother the day after she turned 17.

My father is 9 years younger than my grandmother..... :)

[gopherit]

My grandmother could make something out of nothing - she was the most resourceful woman i ever met. Anything from clothes to food to school costumes - you name it. She was Depression era, and so maybe she learned how to be so resourceful the hard way, but I was always amazed.

And OMG, the bread that woman could make. She lived with us for a few months every winter (we lived down south, so Gramma "migrated" to our house from upstate New York every winter, LOL!) I would come home from school and the whole house smelled like a bakery. Neighbors would come to pump her for recipes, but she couldn't really give them to them. Oh, she would try, but it was so much a "pinch" of this, a "dash" of that, until it "looked" right, or "tasted" right... people just gave up!

I also loved her stories. She grew up in rural part of Canada, one of about a dozen kids, and her stories could have been taken straight out of Laura Ingalls "Little House in the Big Woods". In fact, I recall reading that very book to her, and her sitting there, nodding, taking it all in as she crocheted, and adding to the stories from her perspective.

A wonderful lady. She died at age 88, when I was 16. Thanks for giving me another reason to remember her today! Think I'll go home tonight and tell my kids some of her stories...

[PoohsPal]

Oh, these are some beautiufl stories. Thanks for sharing!

[jiggerj]

gopherit- That was a very sweet post. It sounds like your grandmother was very special woman to you and with very wonderful memories. Enjoy stories with your kids tonight! :)

[Deep-Thots]

My favorite grandparent was my mom's mom, who died way too young -- at 60 -- in 1983.

She was wickedly smart, loyal, fiercely independent, adventurous, and had a great sense of humor and a sweet tooth that just wouldn't quit.

When my mother was 15 and her sister 13, she threw out my grandfather because he was a mean drunk who came home drunk one night and punched her. She washed her hands of him and raised the kids on her own.

She drove a bright red Volkswagen Beetle, loved Rock 'n' Roll, took me on trips to Russia and Morocco, and taught me to think for myself.

When the cold weather got to be too much for her up here in NJ, she packed up everything in her VW Bug, moved down to Orlando, and got a job working for Disney in what was then the "Decorating" department. She was well-loved by all, particularly because she used to allow the folks in her department to dress her up in various costumes to try them out for size.

It was a great blow to me when she contracted pneumonia immediately after (during, really) our trip to Morocco and died. (I was sick, then, too.)

I still have her Disney nametag and numerous pictures of her in Disney garb. And somewhere, my mother has (and has promised to give me) a huge Mickey drawing that her Disney coworkers signed and gave to my grandmother for her birthday.

So, that was my grandmother. And that's why I love Disney.

RIP, Gram.

Kim

[PoohsPal]

When my mother was 15 and her sister 13, she threw out my grandfather because he was a mean drunk who came home drunk one night and punched her. She washed her hands of him and raised the kids on her own.


That is a courageous woman, especially for those times, but now too.

It doesn't seem fair when they leave us so young.

It's very funny to see how so many of you have taken on some of your grandparents qualities. I can only hope of few of my grandma's qualities rubbed off on me just a little.