Thursday, November 30, 2006

Children of the Depression

Every time I go to my grandparents' house, they give me fifty dollars. No matter how hard I protest. If I try, as I have done in the past, to accidentally leave the money some where, say under a newspaper, they find it and give it back to me. Once, they put the cash in one of the tiny pockets on Sam's outfit and I didn't find it until I was undressing him that night.

My grandparents aren't poor, but I often wonder how they have all this extra money. They have eight children, twelve grandchildren, one great-grandson and another great-grandchild on the way. If they're handing out fifty bucks as often as it seems, I figure they must be loaded. Then I saw their shower. My grandparents are in great shape for their age, but they are still, well, old. So it's difficult for them to step over the side of the tub to get into the shower. To remedy this, my grand pap installed a shower in the basement that just has walls around it. I was down there looking for some old toys of mine and I saw the medicine cabinet where they store their shower supplies.


Not only do they have ten million bars of soap, they make sure that they use them in order of their purchase.


Seeing this made me understand a lot about who they are, and appreciate the things they do for me and my family. I don't just mean the money, either. My grandmother will spend her entire day making pierogies from scratch for me when I'm coming to visit, even though she's seventy-six years old. She'll spend weeks knitting blankets for Sammy. My grandfather, who can't hear barely at all, will call me to say happy birthday.

This is a part of who they are, and in turn, it's a part of who I am, and I'm glad to have learned that.

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4 comments:

Lora said...

my grandma broke her hip trying to pick up a rubberband once.
the amount of saved items in their house was astounding.

Amy Jo said...

My other grandma saves every coffee can and cool whip container and makes her children do the same. SOB will throw them away when she gives us food in one and then call to tell her. It makes her crazy, but she forgives him because they have the same birthday!

Colleen - I just started participating in a blog exchange via Motherhood Uncensored. You should check it out! I'll come 'round your way and do some reading. Upon just a quick look I see reference to shopping, which can't be bad!

super des said...

I love grandparents, and i love pierogies.

Magpie said...

My father travels a lot, and always ALWAYS takes the hotel soap/shampoo/lotion etc. But, he never NEVER uses it. He goes to Sam's Club and buys bricks of soap and huge bottles of shampoo and the little hotel soaps and tiny bottles just sit there. I've taken to swiping them and taking them home.