1. I'm afraid I can't talk FaceBook lingo, especially when it comes to commenting on my grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
2. I never saw any of my grandparents. All but one was dead by the time I arrived, so
3. My own children have experienced their grandparents, however, and I've learned a few things.
4. The all-time favorite grandparent was Grandpa Carew. He came home for lunch every day and sat in his recliner for a rest afterwards. The grandkids who were there clamored to get up into his lap as he rocked gently. "Teef! teef!" they'd holler, and he would clatter his false teeth at them. "Do 'gin!" and he'd oblige.
5. Sigh. I do not have a whimsical personality that translates into FaceBookese. And I do not live across the alley--several large bodies of water away, in fact. So I see them online. If the kid can reach his mouth with a spoon, I do not say he has "mad skilz!!" If I would say anything at all, it would be "God in heaven...who is feeding you all this frosting s**t?"
Oh, my, ME...how privileged you make me feel. There was only one grandparent whom I did not get to know. I well remember one grandfather, two grandmothers, two great-grandmothers, one great-grandfather, and one great-great grandmother.
ReplyDeleteOTOH: We have only one grandchild. I treasure the memory of teaching her to climb a tree to get atop a shed. Now, her sons want me to race them the length of our backyard. That's not something I would have thought to ask either of my great-grandmothers to do (and I am older than either of them was when I was the boys' age.) I have had such a comparatively easy life!
XE, I probably have enough whimsy to share if you ever feel the need. ; )
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You have enough whimsy for all of us, CC.
DeleteI have a vague memory of seeing a paternal grandmother once but was lucky to spend a summer week with my maternal grandmother as a child. Also, saw her other times when she spent time at our house, especially that later time after I graduated from college. Both grandfathers were long passed before I was born.
ReplyDeleteThere's much to be said for CC's whimsy on any topic!
I feel for people who didn't have multiple generations in their families. I spent weeks at a time at one or another elder generation's home. My younger brother stayed with our maternal grandparents for months while our parents, Elder Brother, and I traveled all over Texas, living in the house that Dad had built on the bed of his truck, following electrical work that Dad could do at various military camps that were under construction. When we settled in Tulsa, Elder Brother spent months with the same grandparents so that he could attend school with his best bud - and skip 2nd grade in favor of 3rd (to be on a par with his bud.) Elder Brother had attended 7 different schools in 1st grade, so the stability was good for him. Of course, he then came to Tulsa to attend 4th grade while I was in 1st.
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P.S. The summer just after I turned 14, I spent a few weeks with my great-grandparents, a few weeks with my paternal grandmother, and then about 10 days caring for my aunt's husband and two kids while she was having her third (of five) kid.
What riches!! I have a friend who attended many schools before she got into high school, and it was a great benefit to her--and also to me when I read about it. If she didn't fit in one place, she did not think it was HER fault (or anyone's fault). She just concentrated on her studies and waited for the next place.
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