My theme for this challenge is family and relations.
Grandparent “a parent of one’s father or mother”
In theory most people should have four grandparents. Two from each parent. I never knew my Dad’s mum – Dad moved away from the family home in Wales at quite a young age. His Dad took him to Yorkshire and contact with the Welsh roots was lost. My grandfather re-married, although not as quickly as we had thought – it seems that he lived with his new partner for many years and only married her when his first wife (my grandmother) died, anyway I acquired a step-grandmother. I remember very little of either of them as they died when I was quite young and we rarely saw them.
I remember more of my Mum’s parents although her Dad, my grandfather died when I was 10. I can still remember visiting them though and playing with their dog and being horrified when I came to realise why the rabbits they kept didn’t seem to stay very long. I’m sure rabbit stew is very tasty but not when you knew the rabbit!
My grandmother was quite a stern lady. She would spend her mornings doing her housework and would cook her dinner. She would eat that at lunchtime and then either go out visiting or sit and do crochet or knitting in the afternoons. My grandfather would have to warm up his dinner when he came home in the evening and I’m talking plate over a saucepan or in the oven here. No microwaves in those days!
We lived nearby but we would get a bus to their house and I can remember my fare being 2d (that’s 2 old pence for those who are post decimalisation!)
Our children have been fortunate to know 3 of their grandparents much better. (My Dad pre-deceased them.) They had a lot of contact with my Mum when they were growing up as she was often at our house and did lots of babysitting. We made sure that we visited their other grandparents a lot too and the example set by all of them has definitely had an impact on the way our children have matured.
Only one of their grandparents is still alive, my husband’s mother, but we still see her regularly as my husband and his siblings take it in turn to have her at weekends. (She was living alone but recently moved in with the eldest daughter so our weekends gives everyone a break.) When she’s with us our kids will try and visit if they can and we often get together as an extended family – my husband’s family is large so there is often something to celebrate!
Hopefully one day we will be grandparents too.
The rabbits! I can remember being so upset when I first found out what was happening to them.
ReplyDeleteI have very fond memories of little Chum.
As I wasn't allowed a dog of my own I loved Chum and Anut June's Trixie and of course your Sandy.
It's somewhat similar in my family. I knew only my grandmother out of the four grandparents, but my sons have known all of theirs. I now have two grandchildren but sadly they won't know all of theirs because my husband died two years ago.
ReplyDeleteI only knew one set of grandparents, and we were not close. My parents lived far away and died while my kids were quite young, but my husband's parents are close by. There's nothing I look forward to more than being a grandmother someday!
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My mother recently moved from MA t CA, right down the street from us. Now she gets grandchildren time almost all week. She's a part of our home and my kids adore her.
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ClarabelleRant
I only knew two of my grandparents and sadly, my children have missed out too as both my husband and I had comparatively (for our ages) elderly parents (our father's were both WW2 veterans so had late families.) In 2008/9 three of them died within nine months of each other which was a very sad year indeed. I am sad for my children more though - they have missed out so much on that special relationship between grandparent and grandchild.
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