What is the best worst thing you remember about your grandparents?

[Wilbur ★]

Mine was monthly dinner at my paternal grandparents house.  Every time I arrived with my parents he would yank me up onto his lap and exclaim "Aye wee Wilbur!  You've not been drinking your stout, lad!"  Then he would make me drink some of his and have a couple of puffs of his cigar.     Times have changed. 

[shootingstar]

39 minutes ago, Wilbur said:

Mine was monthly dinner at my paternal grandparents house.  Every time I arrived with my parents he would yank me up onto his lap and exclaim "Aye wee Wilbur!  You've not been drinking your stout, lad!"  Then he would make me drink some of his and have a couple of puffs of his cigar.     Times have changed. 

I never knew any of them...all lived and died in China.  I thnk I saw a photo of my maternal grandfather...not sure if it was him.  The rest have no clue what they looked like.

[shootingstar]

My paternal grandfather believed very much in education...he went around the village asking for some funds..and in the end a school bldg. was built.   This would have been in 1920's-1930's, Remember footbinding of girls in wealthy families was getting out of vogue during that time or just a decade before.

Grandfather's dream..via my father who made sure we went for university/college education. He wanted make sure we created more options for ourselves.

There is small marker in North York cemetery that my father had installed to commemorate his parents...because the Communists ploughed over their gravesites in China.

[Dirtyhip]

Best, the dinners with a pile of ducks that my grandmother made.   Learning how to butcher game.  Familiarity with weapons. Her frugality.

Worst, cigarette smoke from Grandpa and brutal beatings from Grandmother.  She was not of sound mind and had anger issues.  Ban combo.  I grew up in that home, until I finally left as a teen.

[bikeman564™]

Good home cooking,  and very giving.

[Kzoo]

My paternal grandmother was the only one living when I was born.

Best thing - I only ever saw her twice in my life

Worst - She was a mean miserable witch who tried to make everyone's life miserable. 

[Prophet Zacharia]

Best: we’d get Christmas presents at random times of the year because my grandmother would misplace them and not find them all at once, or at all at Christmas time.

Worst: She’d never serve dinner before about 9 pm because her time management skills were so poor, what had planned to be a 7 pm meal never was. A lot of hungry evenings and late nights.

[Guest]

I was fortunate to have known all four of my grandparents. My paternal grandfather taught me how to fly fish. Many hours on the river. He was a master at it.

my maternal grandmother was the typical living grandma. Cooked a big meal every Sunday. My grandpa was a hoot! I recall driving the trans- Canada in 1976 and him ogling all the cute Flagler girls while nursing a black label beer in a paper bag. 

[ChrisL]

Never met my dads parents nor my maternal grandfather but my Oma remarried so he’s the Opa I know.  They lived in Holland so I only saw them every few years.  I’m named after my 2nd Opa. 

No bad memories at all, only good.  My Opa died in 86 but he made a trip to CA the year he died.  Probably shouldn’t have... My mom asked me to fly home in uniform.  He opened the door when I came home and the look on his face was awesome.  So proud it brought him to tears.   He was such a cool dude.

My Oma was fiesty but a wonderful woman.  So many great memories but one stands out that exemplifies her.  I was pushing her in a wheelchair to a fireworks show one 4th of July.  We were going down a hill so I reclined the chair back so she was doing a wheelie down the hill.  My mom saw and yelled at me to put the wheels down.  Oma says to me in Dutch, don’t listen to her keep doing it!  She was a hoot! 

[Rattlecan ★]

My grandparents were all born in the 1890s. Both sets lived within short walking distance when I was a kid.

My paternal grandparents were old order Mennonites. They kept a horse for transportation, and chickens for eggs and meat. It wasn't unusual in our little village to have a small barn behind the house, because lots of Mennonites retired off the farm and moved into town as my grandparents did before I was even born.

 By the time I was 10 or so, grandpa was quite senile, so I really didn't get to know him that much.

 Three of the 4 died within a year and a half of each other, both maternal grandparents, and my paternal grandfather. I was about 21 at the time. My other grandma lived till she was 97, but didn't really know what was going on for the last 10 years of her life.

I had more of a relationship with the maternal side. I used to fish with grandpa, and made a few bucks mowing their lawn. 

[Kirby]

My paternal grandfather died before I was born, but I knew my Dad's Mom.  She had a favorite granddaughter and it wasn't me, but the older I got the more I respected how much courage it must have taken for her to come to the US as a young immigrant and make a life.   It wasn't easy and she put up with a lot, but she made a nice life for her kids.    

My maternal grandfather had a stroke when I was pretty young, so I mainly recalled visiting him in the nursing home, but I do recall playing cards with him when I was young. I was pretty young, but I liked him a lot.   My Mom's Mom was a very sweet woman.  I spent a lot of time with her because she looked after me when my Mom was working.  I recall when I'd stay over we'd have a "party" every evening - usually ginger ale and saltines - but she made it feel special.

My Mom's Mom was also the one from the Catskills and she and her husband bought the house in the Catskills that we'd visit every summer.  My bedroom was above the kitchen and I'd wake up to the scents of her yummy apple cakes and other baked goods.  In the evenings, my mom, my grandma and I would play cards (usually pinochle with some very lax rules).  Lots of nice memories there.

[Tizeye]

I am named after my grandfather who pre-deceased my generation. My mother and her 3 brothers got together and agreed that the first male born would be named after their father. The first three born were femail...then me.

In terms of my maternal grandmother - who never re-married - remember the Easter gathering and egg hunts in her yard with all the cousins.

Never knew the paternal side other than my father's brother - but not their parents. From what I gather they escaped a harsh and abusive family life. My father dies when I was four so that kind of severed the paternal connection, however, my father's brother married my mother's 1st cousin and we remained close.

[petitepedal ★]

My mom's dad..my grampy..was awesome..kept bubble gum, licorice,peanuts in a drawer in his dresser and hand them out as treats..he took care of me from the time I was a baby..loved to crawl up behind him when he was in his rocking chair..and snap his suspenders  On the down side..snuff.. 

[Tizeye]

This is my maternal grandmother. When I got my first SLR camera in 1969, this slide was on either the first or second roll I shot. At the time she was living 150 miles away and was visiting, so the photo op had to be right during the visit. Would be difficult to re-take.

 

[maddmaxx ★]

1 hour ago, Kzoo said:

My paternal grandmother was the only one living when I was born.

Best thing - I only ever saw her twice in my life

Worst - She was a mean miserable witch who tried to make everyone's life miserable. 

I know that story.  Only it was the maternal grandmother.  I never met the others.

[jsharr ★]

My grandfather was completely self made.  Never went to college.  Did just about everything a man could do.  Was born in the boarding house his parents ran in Indian Territory.  He worked on steam trains, where he had his pelvis crushed in a train coupler.  He walked with a crutch as long as I knew him.  He was supposed to die, but instead married his nurse.   Raised three boys and was a blue collar worker his entire life.

I do not have a bad memory of the man.  If I had to say "worst" it was his habit of threatening to "knock a hickey on my bean" with his crutch.  I assumed this meant he would hit me in the head with his crutch, but he never did.  He took up sewing after retirement and mom has table clothes and other things that he embroidered.

He even helped me sew stuff for my GI Joes.

[The_Karen_Cooper_Incident]

I loved each of them very much. 

My grandpa Max had a unique way of swearing. "Suffering Shit Hooks" was a phrase he used often. I still chuckle when I think of it. The man was absolutely brilliant otherwise. PhD in biochemistry, IQ through the roof and extremely creative.

Unfortunately he had another side, the double edged sword. High intelligence came with extreme mental abnormalities like depression and anxiety. He was generally a blast to be around until he ruminated about suicide. I actually found a dear John Check Out letter on his desk when I was in my teens. It was horrifying and the event still lives with me. 

 

[Wilbur ★]

Here are my paternal grandparents.  He was the one who immigrated to Boston from Scotland, then Halifax.   I still have that painting on the wall behind him. 

 

[Rattlecan ★]

4 hours ago, petitepedal said:

My mom's dad..my grampy..was awesome..kept bubble gum, licorice,peanuts in a drawer in his dresser and hand them out as treats..he took care of me from the time I was a baby..loved to crawl up behind him when he was in his rocking chair..and snap his suspenders  On the down side..snuff.. 

Jimmy Durante was your grandfather?

[Longjohn ★]

My mom was an only child so my brother and I were the grandkids and didn’t have to share grandma and grandpa with cousins. Unfortunately my grandma died of cancer when I was quite young. My grandpa lived a few more years and got to take the Queen Mary cruise ship back to England to visit any relatives he still had there. He immigrated when he was a young man and had never had a chance to return. I liked riding in grampa’s car with him. It smelled of cigar smoke but to me it just smelled like grandpa’s car. He and another man from his lodge came up with the idea of dressing up like Santa and visiting every house with kids on Christmas Eve if the parents left the porch light on. The parents would sometimes leave a note on the front door to clue Santa in to the children’s names and possibly what they were getting for Christmas. That tradition still goes on to this day after 70 years. I have a magazine that did a story about the town where Santa visits every house and it has photos of my grandpa.

My dads father was living with my aunt and uncle on their farm by the time I came along. My dad had five brothers and one sister so there were lots of grandkids. Grandpa Fleet was a cool guy but we didn’t have that special connection like we had with my other grandpa because he had twenty grandkids. When we went to visit my brother and I spent most of our time with the cousins. Grandpa Fleet’s first wife died after their first son was born, grandpa remarried and they had the rest of the kids. She passed away before I was born so I only know her from my dad’s stories.

[Ralphie ★]

1 hour ago, Rattlecan said:

Jimmy Durante was your grandfather?

Bop a dop a doo dop!

[Ralphie ★]

My maternal grandparents were like Ozzie and Harriet. We kids would usually spend two weeks at their house in the summer, and we loved it. My paternal grandpop died right before I was born, and my paternal grandmother took care of herself in a time when that was snot easy for wimmin. She only lived aboot 5 miles away from the other grandparents so we split our time between them. It was a great experience for us kids. And I would imagine for the grandparents too. 

[dinneR ★]

All four were 100% awesome. 

My paternal grandfather gave me a BB gun to shoot the squirrels that were raiding his bird feeder. He was a man of few words. Handed me the gun and said "if you see a squirrel, shoot it." 

My paternal grandmother made the best damn dumplings and nadivka ever.

My maternal grandmother was sweet and strong and an amazing cook. She lost a finger in a farm accident and was back to work the next day. My parents took her to Italy to meet her cousins. Best trip ever.

My maternal Grandfather was a hoot. He had nine kids and every one of them wrecked one of his cars. He bought two of everything because he knew one of his kids would take one and he could keep the second. I once stayed up until 4 am shooting craps in a baking dish with him. I was drunk and he might have taken me for all my cash that night. 

[Razors Edge ★]

19 hours ago, Wilbur said:

What is the best worst thing you remember about your grandparents?

That they died too soon for me to fully appreciate them   Only my paternal grandmom made it to my time in kindergarten.  By then, all three other grandparents were gone (including my maternal grandmother who was gone before I was born ). So, only great vague memories (and photos) of my grandmom and me & my two siblings.  All else are only photos (granddads) or nothing at all.

[ChrisL]

This is the only picture I have of my Opa & Oma.  This has got to be 1967 or 68.  Somebody played a cruel joke on me...  Odd thing is they are just a few years older in that shot than I am now.  They had 12 grandkids by that time, I have a grand pup...

[MoseySusan]

Paternal grandpa was a tobacco spitter. One summer he came to visit for a long time and built a fly rod to go fishing in the Arkansas with my dad and a few uncles who came just for the fishing part of the long summer visit. I liked to watch him wrap the eyelets into place, but had to watch out or I’d get a tobacco blob on my foot.