G is for Grandparents

People who have living grandparents are some lucky people. All four of my grandparents are still alive, though my last great grandparent passed away when I was in junior high.  My children spend a good deal of time with my parents, their grandparents, and I know that they will have some wonderful memories to look back on. I have a number of memories of my own grandparents.

When I was in 3rd of 4th grade I was very into Felicity of the American Girls books. I wanted to have a afternoon tea party in a rose garden for my birthday.  Gramps, my paternal grandfather, had a beautiful rose garden in his back yard. The only problem was that roses don't bloom in April outside a greenhouse. I did what any girl would do. I postponed my birthday party for 2 months. We had tea and cake in the backyard by the roses. It was a "formal" party and all of my guests wore their Sunday dresses.  We played blind man's bluff in the front yard, it was very old fashion.

I had this Beauty and the Beast doll,
my sister had Cinderella and Prince Charming.
We both had Robin Hood and Maid Marion

Nana, my paternal grandmother, loved dolls. She collected porcelain dolls and had them all over her house.  She changed their clothes at Christmas as part of her decor.  She loved to take my sister and I to the Rosalie Whyel Doll Musuem in Bellevue. They had more than 300 dolls and toys on display. We always bought Peck-Gandre paper dolls in the gift shop after our visit. Those were some of my favorite paper dolls.  The doll museum closed in March of this year, which means I will never be able to take my own daughter there, but I still get to cherish the memories.

We called my paternal grandparents Grandma and Grandpa. When we were young they moved from the Seattle area to Albuquerque, NM. My sister and I used to spend 4-6 weeks there every summer until we were both past puberty. We would go visit the natural history museum, Old Town, and play Putt Putt Golf. Grandma and Grandpa live in a gated community with a pool. Last September, my grandpa turned 85 and there was a family reunion in celebration. My kids got to stay in the house I lived in a month every summer and play in the same pool. We went and visited the same places and played the same games.

I am older now and am gaining different memories of my grandparents. Memories of Grandpa holding my babies while sleeping in an easy chair, just has he held me and slept. Memories of Nana putting light pink lipstick on my two year old daughter. Gramps reading books to my children at Christmas time. I'm glad my children have 2 and a half sets of grandparents to create memories with.  Grandparents make childhood sweeter.