My dad's mother was my grandmother who gave me the most memories, and all of those memories are sweet and good. We called her "Gram". Gram was born in Louisville, KY, 1896, the first of 4 kids of Swiss-German parents. The family came to Los Angeles when Gram was 3 yrs old. She saw so much change in LA over her 96 years. I once asked her how did she deal with all the change and growth and new-fangled items that continued to impact her life. She replied that she just tried to flow with it since she could not stop it, and to learn all she could about the changes. She had an excitement for life it seemed, and she was always welcoming to us kids, excited to see us, and sad when we had to leave her house. Gram was the BEST ever; there will never be another Gram.
Gram's way of getting upset with us when we acted up around her was to say, "Pretty soon we're going to have a Butt-Kicking Contest, and I'll win, so stop that!". Then we'd all laugh and shape up and go on having fun.
If I could accomplish anything with my grandkids, it would be to have them know for certain that I love them so much, like Gram loved us. Unconditionally, enjoying their company, being proud of them, letting them know if they fail in some way, that it is perfectly fine to start over and do better next time. But I will tell them like I told my kids, if you end up in the Can, slammer, joint, jailcell... don't waste your dime on me (don't call me) to bail you out; just come see me next time you're free and we will begin again.
Russell and Autumn Kelly, 2 of my grandkids from Idaho, are in Simi staying with their other grandparents for a month. The 2 spent the night this week here, so they could go to Jordan's 6th grade promotion ceremony with us yesterday morning. Russell and I played Monopoly and this time I didn't wager a bet about beating him because I suck at Monopoly usually. Especially against him! He is a good player and has developed strategies that usually put him in the winners circle. Hopefully, he will take those strategies to real Life and support himself well. We'd begun the game late, and I finally told him I'd only play to 11 PM because I was wiped out. I thought that'd be soon enough for me to quit without the humiliation of being beat again, but at 10:48 PM, he managed to make me go bankrupt and won. Then he told me of a memory he has of me that he will never forget. We have kitchen chairs on wheels and when the kids were younger, they always played around and scooted the chairs away from the table, back around, twirled and moved back and forth... until I'd yell and tell them to sit still or they would have to sit in a dining room chair without wheels. Russell reminded me of a time I told him, "IF YOU DON'T STOP MOVING THAT CHAIR AROUND, YOU'LL NEVER SET FOOT IN THIS HOUSE AGAIN!!!" I denied ever being that cruel, but he swears it is true, and I have to admit... it sounds just like me!! hahaha. so much for trying to be like Gram and make sweet memories!
Autumn likes to make snowcones with a Pampered Chef snowcone maker we have. It seems like a lot of effort to me to make them..But now she can work the gizmo herself
so she makes the snowcones while I sit on my butt. I bet her $5 I could beat her in a game of Clue, knowing damn well that I suck at Clue as well as Monopoly. But I wanted her to have the money, so we played the game and lo and behold! I made some very LUCKY guesses, without rhyme or reason like I usually do, and she could not show me any cards, so by sheer chance, I won the game!! I almost fell off my chair, and she was so disappointed! Next time we play Clue, I'll bet her 10 bucks, so she can double her winnings to make up for a fluke loss. Autumn did beat me by a few million dollars in 2 games of LIFE though; I didn't bet on those games either because I suck at LIFE too. The only game I really like to play with the kids is Scrabble; they don't stand a snowball's chance in Hell to beat old Gramma Jayne in Scrabble; or do they? We will see!
Grand daughter Jordan (12 next month) who lives with us with her mom Kim, has been told repeatedly by me that I don't allow the B word (B*R*D) to be said in this house because there is NO EXCUSE for boredom EVER, and I am never bored, and believe no one else should ever be bored either. There is just too much to do in life, even if it is just sitting and pondering your umbilicus! But last week, I blew it. It was about noon and I was restless; Jordan was on the computer, Mike was eatin lunch, and I wasn't hungry, didn't want to veg in front of the TV, didn't want to read, wasn't ready for a nap... so I blurted out, "I AM SO BORED!!!". Jordan's jaw dropped, she was speechless, then said, "Gramma, I am going to remember this day FOREVER!!".
Ah, memories! they are being made every minute, eh? Make them good!
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3 comments:
I sure miss being bored. I think those days are over until I get my hip replacement. I hope my grandkids want to play games with me. Theey will NEVER beat me and Aunt Kim in pictionary. I just caught up on all your blog enries and Keep it up Cuz I LOVE readin it. thanks for the laughs
ah! I'm so glad you are having a good time with them. And it's a good thing they have you to play board games with since no one here plays them with them! (although we do have a great scrabble board...)
Bored: "uninterested because of frequent exposure or indulgence".
One of several definitions of bored in the dictionary. I had to look that word up because I forgt what it meant and I realized how lucky I am to never be bored! But as kids we want that constant stimulation and when it is taken away, we are bored. Too bad kids can't relish being bored while they still have the chance eh? (does any of this make sense? what was I talking about? This is boring, I'm outta here!)
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