Nobody can do for little children what Grandparents do. Grandparents sort of sprinkle starcust over the lives of little children. ~Alex Haley
Today was Grandparents’ Day. It’s not something that is recognized that much. I think that’s because most of the time grandmothers and grandfathers are usually included on Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. Usually, though, I do try to remember it and mention it in our church bulletin. This year it sort of sneaked up on me. I knew it was the second Sunady in September, but I guess that sneaked up on me too since September came in on the first day of the month.
Oh well, one excuse is as good as another. I do love grandparents. I only remember my maternal grandmother and my paternal grandfather. My mom’s dad and my dad’s mom died when I was very small. I only have a couple of vague memories of them. Mom’s mother was a loving grandmother, but not really a come spend the night and play with me all day type of grandmother the way I was with my grandchildren and the way my mother was with my children. The days the grandkids visited were when all else was shoved aside and attention focused on those precious little ones.
Mama Rose liked seeing us and loved playing cards, but I don’t think she would have cheated to let me win. 🙂 I’m just guessing, but I’m thinking some of you grandparents out there might have done that a time or two. Maybe not every time, but sometimes when the grandkids were young. I certainly don’t now that my grandchildren are older. They would probably have to cheat to let me win now! Not that I think that would ever happen.
I did have an aunt, my dad’s sister, who stepped in to be a grandmother for us. She never married and so took my sisters and me to her heart. We spent the night with her once a week. She bought special treats for us. She was ready to play games with us. She talked pig Latin with me. She let me play with her typewriter! She read my first efforts to write a book and praised every word. She told me I was a pretty child and made me believe it might be true. She loved cats and always had some around to pet. She got someone to add a little room to an outside shed and equipped it as a playhouse with tiny dishes and dolls and furniture. It was the neatest.
A few years ago, when I was doing a newsletter giveaway of a Grandmother’s Bible, I asked readers to share stories about their grandmothers. Some of them I shared here, but here’s one I don’t think I shared then. It’s from Connie and made me think of what a blessing a loving grandmother is whether she plays with you all the time or merely lets you hear her stories or share her chores.
Here’s what Connie wrote about her grandmother.
My parents shared a big farmhouse with my father’s parents for a few years and were living there when I was born. My brother and I were the youngest of the grandchildren so we received extra loving! As young as I was, I can still recall sitting on the step between the kitchen and the living room and singing along with Mamaw. I think I probably inherited my love of music from her and I am told that I inherited her nature. Apparently she was a very kind and patient person so I do hope that this is true. She was almost 60 by the time I was born so my memories include aprons with bibs, bonnets whenever she was outdoors and long gray hair that she always twisted into a knot on the back of her head. One of my greatest pleasures was brushing her hair as she sat in her chair and apparently she enjoyed it also because she often fell asleep! Another great pleasure was that she allowed me to cook alongside her. Since she made biscuits every day, I was given an Alka-Seltzer lid to use as my cutter and she baked those bite size biscuits along with hers!
Oh how I loved her and even though she has been gone for 50 years, I still recall those times I was able to be with her. Precious memories, how they linger and as long as God allows me to remember, I will treasure those memories.
Those precious memories are to be treasured and I hope everyone has some of those memories from time with a loving grandparents, relative, or older friend who sprinkled stardust on you when you were a kid.
The picture up top is my aunt and my sisters. It might have been before I was born or I might have just been too little to be part of the picture. But I love all the smiles.
What treasured memories of grandparents do you have?
Comments 8
My most treasured childhood memories come from my grandmother. My Mom and Dad divorced when I was almost 4 years old. My mom worked in an ice cream factory while my grandmother took care of me most of the time. I followed Grandma through her day. We hung laundry on the clothes line. We puttered around in her garden , whether it was planting or weeding and even sometimes harvesting. We picked raspberries and made jelly with them. She put me to work helping her when she prepared a meal. She taught me how to bake – from cookies to pies. To this day, there are things that I do because I learned them at her side. There was a drive in movie theater behind her house and on summer nights we could sit on the back porch or bring a blanket down close to the chain link fence and watch the movies. She’d make popcorn and drinks for us to enjoy. We even got to play in their play ground during the day. During the school year, she drove a school bus. I got to ride along. I was so proud of her. Those kids always got on the bus and greeted her with respect. She was all of 5 feet tall. She was small, but mighty in my eyes. As I got older, and was left at home alone until I was awake, there were days she would pick up the phone, call , and say,”Get yourself together and meet me out front. We’re going to the beach!” She’d pack a lunch and snacks in her cooler, all the towels we needed, and her big beach umbrella. Yes, for sure my best childhood memories were with her.
Most of all, she made life so much better for me because she was in it.
Author
Those are wonderful memories, Cindy Sue. What a wonderful grandmother to have and she obviously loved you so very much. I have no trouble imagining you following her around while she was doing her chores and cooking and how you were her buddy. Thank you so much for chiming in with those sweet memories.
I am not the Connie from the post above, but I have just a few memories of one grandmother, the rest passed away when I was only a few years old. She had started staying with her children, alternating back and forth for a couple of weeks at a time. On one of the visits to our house, I remember mom washing her long hair for her and combing it dry outside in the sunshine. I remember she brought some horehound candy with her and I asked her for a piece. She also gave me one of those church hand held fans, I still have it. I have a picture of her surrounded with all my cousins. I was the youngest cousin and I was sitting on her lap.
Author
Sweet memories, Connie. The memories I shared were from a different Connie, but thank you for sharing yours too. Your description of your mother washinger her mother’s hair (or her mother-in-law’s) was easy to visualize. A sweet picture. It’s neat that you still have the fan she gave you. That proves that it was something that holds memories of her for you. Thank you for sharing your memories.
I’ve always had a strong sweet tooth, but I could never like horehound candy. And isn’t that an interesting name? Hmm. Maybe I should look into that for a future post. Candy names.
I only have a few memories of my maternal grandmother as we lived in CA and she in IA. Mom took us on the train to visit when I was 4. She was the first person to ever pray with us. She came into the bedroom where my brothers and I were sleeping. She knelt by our bed and prayed the “ 5 little angels around my bed” prayer. She also sent small Sunday School coloring pics once a month in her letters to Mom. Since there were 3 of us kids, she colored one of them. Since at the time we did not go to Sunday School, the little stories on the back were our first introduction to Jesus. She died when I was 10, so I never saw her again, but I know I will see her in heaven. Those few memories are precious to me!
Author
What precious memories of a grandmother who lived too far away from you, Jeanne, but it sounds as if she loved you very much. I’m sure she prayed for you every day. What better thing could a grandmother do for her grandchildren. Thank you for sharing your memories of her.
I have lots of wonderful memories of my grandparents and great-grandparents. My paternal grandmother passed away when I was about 5, but she wrote me letters (and stuck in pieces of gum) and drew pictures on them, and left a legacy of love. My paternal grandfather lived about a 1-1/2 hour drive away, and we’d spend weekends at his house and sleep in front the fire in the living room. One summer I got to stay with him during our church’s family camp and he’d drive me over to the sessions I wanted to attend (I now live across the driveway from that house.) He passed away about a year before I got married, but he met my fiance and approved 🙂
My maternal birth grandmother died when my mom was 5, but her dad re-married and that “step” grandmother was very loving. She lived in Michigan, so I didn’t get to see her as often, but I loved when we did visit as she’d get up early and make bread and cinnamon rolls before I woke up. She and my grandfather divorced before I really knew what was going on, so didn’t spend as much time with my grandfather. He grew popcorn and would send us a milk carton full every Christmas.
My great-grandmothers on my dad’s side were very different, but they both lived with my grandfather after their husbands died. I’m named after one of them, but she was quite strict and not a cuddly great-grandmother. The other great-grandmother was the cuddly type. She lived with us for a number of years, and taught me to knit (but I wasn’t a very good student). I only have vague memories of my maternal great-grandmothers, having only met them once or twice on trips to Michigan when I was quite small. All but one of the great-grandfathers had passed away before I was born, and I have a rather gruesome memory of the one I did know. We were at my grandfather’s house one weekend when that great-grandfather got some bad news over the telephone, had a heart attack and died! I was young enough that I didn’t really know what was going on, so wasn’t traumatized, but that’s the only real memory I have of him.
Thanks for letting me reminisce! Grandparents are very special!
Author
Thanks so much for sharing your grandparent memories, Margaret. I enjoyed reading about them all. You were fortunate to have so many grandparents to get to know and to see and know their different personalities and good points. I’d have loved visiting that grandmother who got up early and baked those cinnamon rolls too. Yum. And the popcorn growing grandfather reminded me of how my mother used to like to raise popcorn in her garden. She made the best crackerjacks.
Grandparents are, indeed, very special. I would wish some of those special, loving grandparents for every child.