topic Re: Do you have a surprising memory from one or both of your grandfathers? in Community Chat

Do you have a surprising memory from one or both of your grandfathers?

sfnative — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 14:36:45 GMT

One of the reasons I ask is that Grandfathers seems to get lost in the family dynamic so often. Grandmothers can most times be seen at the forefront, but many times not so with Grandfathers.

Share a surprising memory you have from one or both of your Grandfathers.

There are going to be some pretty interesting Grandfathers out there!

~Rebecca

Re: Do you have a surprising memory from one or both of your grandfathers?

sfnative — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 14:57:21 GMT

My paternal Grandfather came to the United States due to the Bolshevik Revolution in the Russias. He was an officer in the Russian Royal Navy. He and a number of men mutinied and urged civilians to make plans to get on a ship to save their lives. The Bolsheviks had already ki**ed his family (great grandparents and great uncle) and taken their business away from them. The ship's first stop was in Shanghai, then onto Manila.

My grandfather had to spend 10 years in the Philipines before the U.S. would let him in. He made a wonderful life for his family. (Am leaving a lot out here.)

Fast forwad to 1970, when my Grandfather's God son was getting married. It was a huge affair. Being a God Father of the groom is a big thing in the Russian Orthodox church, so there were several roles my Grandfather had to play. At the reception, the 2 God Fathers stood before the kneeling bride and groom. There was a brief ceremony in which bread was broken and wine taken in small sips. At the close, the party began. This is where I became so surprised.

This wedding was quite large and posh. Lots of money had been spent on it, which meant that an orchestra had been hired. As my husband and I stood at the side, all members of the family, including the God parents, gathered in the middle of this huge hall and the orchestra began to play a Russian folk dances. Oh, my, but I've never ever seen my Grandfather dance like he did that evening. He was graceful, engaging and the best dancer out there! I knew he was a terrific ballroom dancer, but was so proud to see him dance Russian folk dances. To say I was surprised is an understatement. It brought tears to my eyes. (I kept telling my husband, "Papau never said a thing about Russian folks dances and I wish he would have taught some to us!!!)

Re: Do you have a surprising memory from one or both of your grandfathers?

RedTop — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 15:17:18 GMT

I spent a lot of time at my paternal grandfathers side doing chores on the farm. I hugged my grandpa often and remember the distinct smell of his salty sweat and pipe tobacco. The last time I hugged my grandpa was days before he was taken to the hospital, where he died. I hugged him and said I love you grandpa, and he said I love you too Redtop. That was 45 years ago, and yet I remember it like it happened last week, because my grandpa had never actually said those words to me before; he always said yea in response.

Re: Do you have a surprising memory from one or both of your grandfathers?

LilacTree — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 15:21:17 GMT

Unfortunately, I never had a grandfather. They both died long before I was born.

Re: Do you have a surprising memory from one or both of your grandfathers?

LTT1 — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 15:21:37 GMT

@sfnative@RedTop

My maternal grandfather... bounced me on his knee and said a little "ditty" "Cooooool" ? He also had a plastic egg magic trick... he made it disappear

My paternal granfather... he put a silver "bundt-cake" type dish on his head... this was a Christmas present to my grandmother!

Re: Do you have a surprising memory from one or both of your grandfathers?

Laura14 — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 15:36:01 GMT

One of my grandfathers grew up in a haunted farm house in Jersey and loved to tell us the ghost stories every night after dinner.

Re: Do you have a surprising memory from one or both of your grandfathers?

151949 — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 15:40:54 GMT

My paternal grandfather was a policeman and was shot and killed when my dad was only 7 so no memories of him. My dad barely remembered him.

My maternal grandfather was a wonderful, happy, cheery man. We spent a lot of time when I was a child at my maternal grandparents home and he was so wonderful to us. Do i have A memory - not really - but I do have thousands and thpousands of wonderful memories of him. I was blessed with great parents and grandparents.

Re: Do you have a surprising memory from one or both of your grandfathers?

jaxs mom — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 15:48:05 GMT

I'm not sure what would qualify as surprising. I only knew my materal grandfather and I'd say I spent more time one on one time with him than my grandmother. I have a lot of memories of him and keep a photo of him in my bedroom. I've always been sad that he wasn't around to see his great grandchildren. I don't know, maybe that he gave me the stamps from the letters he wrote home to my grandmother during WWII when he was stationed in the Pacific.

My parental grandfather died before I was born due to long term complications from his injuries in WWII. He was lucky he managed to live more than 20 years after though. Even if it was in a wheel chair. I did find a newpaper article about a band he was in.

Re: Do you have a surprising memory from one or both of your grandfathers?

qualitygal — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 15:58:15 GMT

I only got to enjoy my maternal grandfather. He was a fireman and when he started, it was driven by horses. (It, being the fire engine, such as it was at that time.)

Re: Do you have a surprising memory from one or both of your grandfathers?

June222 — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 15:59:24 GMT

No memories at all. I never met any relatives from either side of my family. Not a cousin...not an aunt. Family was not important to my parents...and grudges caused distance.

Re: Do you have a surprising memory from one or both of your grandfathers?

Ibby114 — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 16:10:18 GMT

My maternal grandfather passed away when my Mom was young- but my paternal grandfather was the light of my life!!! He passed when I was only 9 years old and t I have such vibrant positive memories of him. A gem!

Re: Do you have a surprising memory from one or both of your grandfathers?

sfnative — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 16:36:33 GMT

@June222 wrote:
No memories at all. I never met any relatives from either side of my family. Not a cousin...not an aunt. Family was not important to my parents...and grudges caused distance.

@June222

June,

My heart aches for you that grudges made it impossible for you to know your relatives. My God that's horrible. I'm really sorry this had to happen to your family.

~Rebecca

Re: Do you have a surprising memory from one or both of your grandfathers?

sfnative — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 16:41:00 GMT

@LilacTree wrote:
Unfortunately, I never had a grandfather. They both died long before I was born.

@LilacTree

Ford,

I'm ever so sorry that life left you without Grandfathers, as they can be a wonderful part of life.

Hoping that you and your daughter are getting along well. How are things going?

Re: Do you have a surprising memory from one or both of your grandfathers?

June222 — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 16:48:57 GMT

@sfnative wrote:
@June222 wrote:
No memories at all. I never met any relatives from either side of my family. Not a cousin...not an aunt. Family was not important to my parents...and grudges caused distance.
@June222

June,

My heart aches for you that grudges made it impossible for you to know your relatives. My God that's horrible. I'm really sorry this had to happen to your family.

~Rebecca

@sfnative I guess you do not miss what you never have known....thus distance carried into my life. My family lost touch as we grew up...no relationship with my sisters now for the past 20 years....nor my parents who both died and I had not spoke to them either for 20 years. My parents taught us well.....

Re: Do you have a surprising memory from one or both of your grandfathers?

hckynutjohn — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 16:56:58 GMT

Hi Rebecca,

I unfortunately had neither. My maternal grandfather died when I was 4 years old and I really remember little about him. My maternal grandmother pretty much disowned my mother when she married my drunken father. While she did come around eventually, she really was not as close to my mother as she was to my mothers many other siblings.

Did spend time with my grandmother, but she was the "don't sit here/don't touch this, don't touch that" type of person. She had a lot of money and a lot of high valued things in her home and apartment. Myself being from Public Housing only saw things like she owned in the movies.

My memories of my only grandmother were mostly what I mentioned above. I do however remember spending many different days and hours at the hospital with my mother when my grandmother was dying. That and her funeral about foremost in my memory of the grandparent's in my life.

My father I barely knew as he left when I was 3 or so years old. Thus I never met anyone on my paternal side as far as

grandparents.

JOhn

Re: Do you have a surprising memory from one or both of your grandfathers?

LilacTree — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 17:02:02 GMT

@sfnative wrote:
@LilacTree wrote:
Unfortunately, I never had a grandfather. They both died long before I was born.
@LilacTree

Ford,

I'm ever so sorry that life left you without Grandfathers, as they can be a wonderful part of life.

Hoping that you and your daughter are getting along well. How are things going?

Hi Sfnative! We've been here a little over six months now, and although there are things we have both had to get used to, it is going well. My daughter's chronic lyme seems stable (she's on two different antibiotics) and although that helps her physically, the emotional component is much harder to control. She is still severely depressed and, at times, hard to "reach." Few people realize how very serious this illness is. Complete remission is very rare.

To make matters worse for her, her lyme doctor recently had surgery and his staff cannot tell her when she can see him again, although he is out of the hospital now. She is very worried about that and so am I. Doctors who acknowledge and treat chronic lyme disease are very rare.

She has some very good friends who can do for her the things I cannot do, e.g., she is in Cape Cod right now and able to see all the fall foliage on the trip up and back. I expect her home tomorrow. These small things help tremendously and take her out of her depression for a short while.

We had our family reunion this past Saturday and that went beautifully. I wrote about it in Among Friends. That was a high point, as we had not gotten together for quite some time.

It's a very quiet neighborhood and the apartment is perfect for us. So for now, it's as good as it can get. Thank you so much for asking! I hope things are going well for you too!

Re: Do you have a surprising memory from one or both of your grandfathers?

Puzzle Piece — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 17:09:10 GMT

You asked. One I remember seeing in his casket when I was 7. Before that I must have been 3 when I saw him last. The other I remember one time because he was rarely home. He was hung over. He didn't want grandchildren.

Re: Do you have a surprising memory from one or both of your grandfathers?

sfnative — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 17:04:20 GMT

@June222 wrote:
@sfnative wrote:
@June222 wrote:
No memories at all. I never met any relatives from either side of my family. Not a cousin...not an aunt. Family was not important to my parents...and grudges caused distance.
@June222

June,

My heart aches for you that grudges made it impossible for you to know your relatives. My God that's horrible. I'm really sorry this had to happen to your family.

~Rebecca
@sfnative I guess you do not miss what you never have known....thus distance carried into my life. My family lost touch as we grew up...no relationship with my sisters now for the past 20 years....nor my parents who both died and I had not spoke to them either for 20 years. My parents taught us well.....

@June222

It's difficult to know what to say, because one is truly talking into a life that had such an amount of emptiness imposed upon it.

However! I see you're a Seahawks fan and hope you find joy, fun and a sense of family, if you will, enjoying them as a true fan.

~Rebecca

Re: Do you have a surprising memory from one or both of your grandfathers?

LilacTree — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 17:16:03 GMT

@June222 wrote:
@sfnative wrote:
@June222 wrote:
No memories at all. I never met any relatives from either side of my family. Not a cousin...not an aunt. Family was not important to my parents...and grudges caused distance.
@June222

June,

My heart aches for you that grudges made it impossible for you to know your relatives. My God that's horrible. I'm really sorry this had to happen to your family.

~Rebecca
@sfnative I guess you do not miss what you never have known....thus distance carried into my life. My family lost touch as we grew up...no relationship with my sisters now for the past 20 years....nor my parents who both died and I had not spoke to them either for 20 years. My parents taught us well.....

OMG, sfnative, I just finished responding to your post to me and then read this. I am so very sorry that you have had to bear such unhappiness. I am happy to hear that you did have grandfathers in your life whom you loved and who loved you.

Re: Do you have a surprising memory from one or both of your grandfathers?

Bjjo — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 17:38:19 GMT

I never experienced time with grandparents as none were living when I was born. I'm enjoying reading about the memories everyone is posting knowing just how much your grandparents made a difference in you life. Thanks so much!