03-16-2007, 07:02 AM
Both of my grandfathers are still alive. One is 94 or 95, and the other is in his 80's. As I grew up, I really never felt comfortable around either of them. Neither of them were/are very funny, both seem serious, with an adult sense of humor although this doesn't help me much now because I never really established a relationship with either one.
One was a smoker/alcoholic (stopped both for a few years) that now suffers from diabetics, yet now that he knows his life is dwindling away, decided to start up smoking and drinking again. He was a simple man, a gardener. I found out that he prevented my grandmother from many good-paying jobs because he was jealous of her abilities to surpass him as a woman.
The other, the 94/95 year old, is a womanizer whose wife died from cancer 14-years ago and suffered excruciatingly from shingles during her bout with cancer before she passed away. He was married again within a year to a 43-year old woman. My mother told me he was a real "firecracker" growing up, but left that life behind to become a pastor. As a pastor, he felt the need to constantly move his family from rural area to rural area; state to state every other year or so. This was extremely hard on his family, and he always chose to settle in the most destitute of civilized areas to teach the word of god - you can imagine the effect this must of had on his children (my mother). When he couldn't cut it as a pastor, he would sell insurance door to door. Like Occi, this grandfather of mine loved eggs with ketchup.
I guess you could say I didn't have very good role models as grandfathers growing up. Perhaps this is why my parents divorced when I was young? Who knows. The only thing I really remember about my smoker/alcoholic grandfather when I was young is how much of a bad temper he had. I can't really recall any instances in particular, but I do remember he never smiled. This changed as I aged, and he smiles now and then when he sees my children, but he never smiled with I was a child. The 94/95 year old told a slew of adult jokes, but was very "person-person" oriented, who paid no heed to children. I guess you could say I never really had any relationship with him as a child. That about sums up my youthful experiences with my grandfathers.
One was a smoker/alcoholic (stopped both for a few years) that now suffers from diabetics, yet now that he knows his life is dwindling away, decided to start up smoking and drinking again. He was a simple man, a gardener. I found out that he prevented my grandmother from many good-paying jobs because he was jealous of her abilities to surpass him as a woman.
The other, the 94/95 year old, is a womanizer whose wife died from cancer 14-years ago and suffered excruciatingly from shingles during her bout with cancer before she passed away. He was married again within a year to a 43-year old woman. My mother told me he was a real "firecracker" growing up, but left that life behind to become a pastor. As a pastor, he felt the need to constantly move his family from rural area to rural area; state to state every other year or so. This was extremely hard on his family, and he always chose to settle in the most destitute of civilized areas to teach the word of god - you can imagine the effect this must of had on his children (my mother). When he couldn't cut it as a pastor, he would sell insurance door to door. Like Occi, this grandfather of mine loved eggs with ketchup.
I guess you could say I didn't have very good role models as grandfathers growing up. Perhaps this is why my parents divorced when I was young? Who knows. The only thing I really remember about my smoker/alcoholic grandfather when I was young is how much of a bad temper he had. I can't really recall any instances in particular, but I do remember he never smiled. This changed as I aged, and he smiles now and then when he sees my children, but he never smiled with I was a child. The 94/95 year old told a slew of adult jokes, but was very "person-person" oriented, who paid no heed to children. I guess you could say I never really had any relationship with him as a child. That about sums up my youthful experiences with my grandfathers.
"The true value of a human being is determined primarily by the measure and the sense in which he has attained liberation from the self." -Albert Einsetin