Grandma and Grandpa

For some reason lately I've been thinking about my grandparents. My mom's parents. They were awesome. In fact that's who my daughter is named after. A friend of my mom's ran into one of my mom's cousin's after my daughter was born and told him "Linda's a grandma" and he thought she was talking about my son and she said "no Jenny had a girl, they named her Naomi". The friend said he broke down crying. He told her my Grandma was the best Aunt, she always made him feel loved and wanted. My grandma always used to tell us girls to "go to school so you can grow up to be president". What a great thing to tell GIRLS! Back then that didn't even seem possible. Instead of goodbye she would say "peace" and raise her fingers in the peace sign. I'll always remember she'd say "kill 'em with kindness" and I think that still works best when someone has wronged you. She died when I was about 12, but I have so many good memories of her.

My grandpa on the other hand just died in August of Alzheimer's/dementia. Until the end even though his mind was gone and he didn't remember who I was, when I'd take the kids to see him, he'd light up and come out of his fog. When we were little he'd get on the floor and play with all the grand kids. When he was in his 80's and I had my son he still got on the floor and played. I'm so happy my son has memories of his Great Grandpa. My grandpa was so comical. For one thing he called stuffed peppers "elephant turds". He had a saying I still don't understand "like duck sh*t through a tin horn". HUH? He had an uncanny ability to read people. When my cousin's son was little he'd say "he's a good kid, but something is just not right with him", he was right. When that boy was older they found out he had Aspberger's Syndrome (a type of autism). One year about 10 years ago we were at his house for Christmas and I handed him a present and on the tag I'd written To: Grandpa From: Santa, Grandpa gave me his sly little smile and said "I know that's a damn lie" It was so funny and so him.

Can I just say, my Grandpa was one good looking young man! My Grandma was built like Olive Oyl, who got those genes!???

Well, I could go on and on about them, there's just no words for how special they were not only to our family but to many others who's life they touched.