When I read certain questions in this sub from younger guys, I wonder if they had much contact with their grandparents while growing up.
I am middle aged and many of the answers I would give are somehow connected with things I associate with my grandparents. That’s not all positive, btw. My adult life has been influenced by knowing the mistakes of people in my life.
But, my concept of what someone might have accomplished or achieved by 30 is definitely influenced by knowledge of my older family.
Do any of you have conversations with your grandparents outside of holidays or Facebook? Not just catching up, but real conversations.
3 comments
My grandfathers were both dead before I was born, and one grandmother I was not close with who had a stroke when I was a kid and lived in a home, I didn’t see her much at all.
I was very close to my other grandmother who lived with us for years, or next door, and I saw her literally every single day until I moved out, and then I would still see her at least once or twice a week. She is dead now and it wrecked me for a few years, but I know a lot about her life and the older family and asked her questions about it all the time. She was also like a second mother.
Not really. My parents were older (39 and 38) when I was born, so my grandparents were all well into their 60s when I was born.
My paternal grandmother passed before I was born. My paternal grandfather wasn’t around much. He lived on the other side of the country and didn’t get along with my dad (his son). We saw him once a year or two growing up and he developed dementia when I was an early teen (passed when I was 18).
I was very close with my maternal grandparents, especially my mom’s dad. We saw them constantly, and spent most major holidays with them. They lived in NYC and my grandpa used to always take me places, just the two of us when we visited. Unfortunately he passed away a little after my 14th birthday, so I never got to have an adult relationship with him.
I wasn’t super close with my mom’s mom but we got along well. She passed away 10 years ago when I was 24.
Both my grandfathers passed away before I was born. One grandmother lived across the country so I only had occasional interactions with her beyond sending cards at holidays. My other grandmother lived closer and was more involved in my life when I was little, but she was already 80 years old when I was born so I don’t really have a lot of memories of her before she started suffering from physical/mental deterioration (she did live to be 100 though).