Thursday, December 29, 2011

My Grandparents-part one

I was never close to my dad's parents. They were around 70 yrs old when my parents got married. My dad was the youngest of 12 children. I only have one memory of my Grandpa Adams. He was very sick at the time and died not too long after. My Grandma Adams was intimidating. I was a nervous kid, but in this case, I wasn't the only one who was afraid of her. ;)We all were. It wasn't because of anything she did. She just seemed gruff. (Does anyone else use that word or just me? ;)) I don't ever remember seeing her smile. And she was much more likely to reprimand you than to say something kind. I don't think she meant to be prickly. But she was. She was easier to understand as an adult. She was old and not very cheerful. She was more of the "we just endure life" type. But she was a nice person once you got past all that.
My mother's parents, on the other hand, were still pretty young. I think they were in their mid 40's when my parents married. And they were much more grandparent like. There were always treats when Grandma was around. She loves to cook and bake. It just seemed like good things always happened when Grandma was around. She and my mother are extremely close. We were at Grandma's house at least once or twice a week. She and my mother are each other's support system.
My Grandfather has (He died 5 yrs ago.) a lot of similarities to my dad. But I think my Grandfather was a little better with people than my dad. I was closer to my Grandfather. He was always sweet to me. I remember reading my Weekly Reader with him. And he always had something he was reading and wanted to talk about. He was always interested in the world around him. He would tell me that my shoulder blades were my angel wings. And when my dad forgot that he was supposed to take us to see Mary Poppins for my birthday and no one could find him (very typical), my grandfather saved the day and got us there just as the nannies were blowing away. :) Thank you Grandfather! He liked to hear me play the piano, but it would bug him if I slumped while I was playing. So he'd always remind me to sit up straight. :)
Grandfather was very entertaining, because he had a lot of quirks. He was very OCD, but luckily most of his obsessions weren't annoying. The only one that made me crazy was the "don't hold your brakes down cause you'll wear them out" one. It gets kinda scary when Grandfather keeps rolling into the intersection during a red light and you're halfway through the intersection before the light turns green. ;) Otherwise, they were just funny. He did, however, drive my Grandma crazy. ;)
When I was younger, he didn't want any dirt in his car. So he would have all of us kneel on the seat or in the back end of the station wagon so he could use a handheld whisk broom on our shoes before we got in. It was this funny ritual everytime we went somewhere with Grandfather. But we didn't mind! It was kinda fun waiting to have your shoes brushed off. I'm trying to remember if he'd whisk off his own shoes. I kinda think he did. I should ask Grandma if he wanted her to brush off her shoes too. Probably! But most likely she refused. LOL! It wasn't quite such a fun game for Grandma. ;)
Grandfather was very adamant that he didn't want to be called grandpa. So he was Grandfather. Brandt called him Gransrawr or just Rawr when he was little. It kinda stuck. So he's Rawr or Gransrawr when anyone's in a silly mood. Grandfather had quite a few pet peeves. He hated crumbs on the table or the floor, so he kept a Dustbuster on the wall in the dining room. But more often, he'd sweep them off into his hands. And it was normal to see Grandfather going down the hall, picking up bits of things off of the carpet at church.
He also hated wasting anything. One of Cameron's first Grandfather experiences was at a family reunion at my grandparents' house. Grandfather came out of the bathroom saying, "Someone's been using too much toilet paper. (There were 30 people in their house that day. ;)) I think it was Loren!" Poor Loren got the blame. LOL!
Also, if you were spending the night at their house, all of their grandchildren knew that Grandfather would sneak in after he thought you were asleep and turn off the fan that was blowing to keep you cool or the heater that was keeping you warm. But that was normal. You'd wake up when he came in and pretend you were still asleep and just turn it back on when he left. ;) It really bugged him that I would sleep rolled up in a blanket even in summer with only my nose uncovered. So he'd come in after I was asleep and move the blanket off my face to keep me from getting hot and I'd just put it back after he left. ;)
He liked to superglue things like his shoes if they started coming apart. After he died, we even found socks with holes that had been superglued. It wasn't that he couldn't afford new socks or new shoes. He just couldn't stand to waste them. He also wrote "These shoes belong to Bob Lovett" on the bottom of the shoes he used at the YMCA, presumably to prevent them from being stolen. :)
He loved to play volleyball and would play every week up until he got too sick. He was very healthy despite having a heart murmur that was so bad that doctors told him he wouldn't live past 30. But he lived into his 70's without any problems.
He was very patriotic and very involved in politics. He would write letters to the editor of their newspaper or letters to politicians regularly.