When people tell me one of their grandparents passed away, it is always difficult for me to...

bijouxbroussard · F Best Comment

If you weren’t close to your grandparents, it might seem that way. My grandparents taught me many things about our family and heritage when my parents didn’t really have the patience or the time (they were both working very hard and I was the first child).

My father’s parents were much older—they were born in the 1800s and he was born when they were in their 40s. They actually knew former slaves personally, as did my father himself when he was a child.
I lost them very young but I will always remember the stories they told me about their lives.

My mother’s parents were both very creative people; this grandfather was a shoemaker, and occasionally took me to his shop; my grandmother taught me to sew, knit, crochet and prepare Creole dishes. I had them as a part of my life for a relatively long time.

EarthlingWise

It's the history you've shared with them, and even more, what was left unsaid and that you really understood getting older. We are the receptacles of (long) lives that sometimes were on the margins of History , but if you've shared emotions with them, they have taught you a lot about what it means to be human.

bowman81 · M

I lost my father when I was 13. The loving mentorship of my maternal grandfather helped me survive that and grow into the man I am today. He saved me. Grandpa B's passing was difficult even though he had lived and set such a great example right up to the end. He died when he was 88, many years ago. I still mourn his passing.

Bang5luts · M

Are/were you not close with your grandparents?

I suppose I wasn't close with my real grandfathers, but my grandmother, especially on my dad's side. I was very very close with her.