I have a love affair with grandparents, not just mine—all grandparents.
Since I was a kid they always fascinated me. Back in “the” day, my day, grandparents tended to have gray-blue hair. I remember saying, “Grandma, how come your hair is blue?” I also wanted to be able to take my teeth out of my mouth at night when I went to sleep—like grandma did. It seemed like it would be so comfortable to just take them out and plop them in a glass of water to keep them sparkling clean. Grandma told me I would be able to do the same one day—little did she know that probably wouldn’t be the case in 50 years.
I never got to meet my grandfathers. They died way before I was born—they died so young, my parents barely knew their fathers. I couldn’t imagine life as a kid without my Dad. How hard it must have been for my parents to grow up without a father.
Sadly, I didn’t have my grandmothers for nearly long enough either, but I do have some great memories. We just loved it when grandma would tell stories about the “olden days”, that’s what we called it. She would tell us about her career working in a Women’s specialty store in Philadelphia called the Blum Store. 
She worked there in the early 1900’s. With her first paycheck she bought a bedroom suite with a 4-poster bed. She gave me that set and it was the first and only bed I ever slept in while living with my parents. I still have that set, and it brings back fond memories of my grandmother.
When I was about 12, Grandma came to live with us. That gave my brothers and me more time to hear stories and be around grandma who was always baking. Cookies were her favorite baking project. Grandma and my mother didn’t see eye to eye on the baking, but you can be sure my brothers and I loved always having fresh baked cookies in the house. Without thinking very hard, I can smell and taste the famous molasses cookies and continue to search for a recipe to repeat Grandma’s specialty.
While grandma was living with us she suffered strokes and dementia, but we all helped take care of her. One day when I was in grandma’s room at our house making the bed, she showed me how to make the nice, neat hospital corners at the foot of the bed. As she carefully showed me how to make a perfect corner, she whispered, “Now each time you make a bed, you’ll think of me.” And you know what, I do! Every time I make a bed I’m reminded of grandma and her stories, her cookies, and her pearly white teeth that so conveniently slipped out of her mouth for easy cleaning.
With no grandparents left by the time I was in my late teens, I took to hanging around my friends grandparents and coaxed them to tell me stories of their “olden days”. Many of my friends would complain about their blue-haired relatives, because grandparents can be very protective and prone to worrying about their grandkids, which was annoying to most teenagers—but I never understood, because I would have given anything to bring mine back.
My kids are lucky to have grown up with a full set of grandparents, until a month ago, when my father-in-law passed away. I’m thankful that without any prodding my kids, and nieces and nephews love spending time with their grandparents, and appreciate their wisdom, stories and occasional cookies. It’s a different century of grandparent, but even without the blue hair or the re-movable teeth, there are still plenty of stories to tell—I’ll save them for another day.
Grandparent stories are fun and inspiring, I’m sure you have some to share. Leave them in the comment section below, we’d love to hear them.
