I've been randomly thinking about my grandma lately. On my dad's side, my Grandpa died when my dad was 13, his mom died when I was about 4 or 5 so I have very little memory of him. On my mom's side my grandpa lived until I was 10ish but he had Parkinson's and Alzheimer's the whole time. In retrospect I wonder if it was misdiagnosed Lewy body dementia.
Anyway, because of this most of my memories of a Grandparent were of my maternal Grandmother. I used to visit her fairly often, just she and I. I am 5-6 years younger than my siblings so while they were teens doing teen stuff I might spend the night with my grandma
Some things I remember vividly. I loved (still do) grilled cheese sandwiches. Her grilled cheese sandwiches always tasted "exotic" because she used whole wheat bread and usually had brand name kraft singles where as my mom always used generic. Also she used real butter where as my mom would use margarine. Grandma grilled cheese and mom grilled cheese tasted distinctly different
My mom would always get us Cheetos which are still one of my favorites, but my grandma would always have Planter's Cheese Balls. They came in a carboard cylinder. They seemed sophisticated somehow.
She had a Fat Albert jigsaw puzzle I would do all the time.
We would play Rack-o, Sorry, and Amazing Labyrinth a lot.
She would rent movies to watch with me. I vividly remember watching Mr. Baseball with Tom Selleck with her once which in retrospect seems so weird for a kid to request, but I had a big baseball phase. I also in retrospect doubt she liked any of the movies I picked but she was very kind about me picking whatever.
I used to get paid to pick up HUGE pinecones in her back yard. A buck a paper grocery bag full. She also had an apple tree. The apples sucked.
When I was a little older I would get paid to mow her lawn. Her lawnmower had the longest pull cord ever. I had to have my dad pull it to start it and then I'd just mow from there.
My family is not very touchy feely. We will occasionally hug but that's about it. The one time I remember being kissed by a family member was by my Grandma when my Grandpa died.
After my Grandpa died her mental faculties started deteriorating more. I was very worried she would forget all about me, much the way my grandpa had with his alzheimer's. Thankfully, she lived many more years but never did. At worst she would think I was my older brother, and I would have to gently remind her I was not.
Any time we eat ribs now we remember her. She could pile away a huge amount of ribs for a tiny elderly woman.
I wish it was easier to hold on to memories of people we've lost.
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