Pickles by Brian Crane for May 28, 2020

What? No Snap? Because I heard crack(le) and pop…

I had my maternal grandfather for 23 years (he was 96), my paternal grandfather for -2 or -3 (he was 78), and my stepmother’s father for I think 3 years (he was 80).

Both of my grandfathers pre-deceased my arrival. One grandmother made it to my birthdate but not much further and I was 18 when the other one died.

Old age does not come alone!

Looks like they borrowed Andy Capp’s blue rectangle picture!

Go outside. Look down at the ground. See the dirt? That’s how old.

“Old age ain’t for sissies” – one of my mother’s favorites. Only now I know what she was talking about.

Aging brings its problems but it sure beats the alternative.

Remember this Nelson … No Grandpa … No Nelson ;-)

In other words, survival of the fittest!

Because my mother was British Anglican and my father was Irish Catholic, neither of their parents accepted or attended the wedding. Thus I never knew or met my grandparents. My parents died when I was 19 years old, three weeks apart.

Old saying: “Life is good, death is peaceful. It’s the transition that’s troublesome”.

Sage advice: Don’t get old! Oops, too late for me!

As Nelson might say, “I’ve known him all my life.”

Cherish them! They’re knowledgeable in family history….ask away!

You know that you had very good grandparents when, long after their passing, they are still with you.

I had three sets of grandparents, well into my adulthood. My uncle, by marriage, was an only child. His parents became part of our extended family, as Grandpa and Grandma R. We grandkids thought of them the same as our blood grandparents, and vice versa.

How old are we to think Earl is? 82?

I once saw a poster: ‘if I had known grandchildren are at fun, I had them first.’ You can’t turn around our reproduction chain, so grandparents are old,….. in comparison to the grandchildren.

“He’s been around most of my life.”

I spent my 21st birthday by being a pall-bearer at my grandfathers funeral.

I had a great grand mother for a while… didn’t realize the significance until I started doing genealogy. What I learned is I should have done what I’m telling you to do. Talk to your elders. Get your family history done. keep records/sources. It has been made so easy for you today… familysearch.org is free but it’s like open source, where anyone can make changes. Hopefully good ones. Ancestry not so free, unless you are LDS, but a great resource for keeping what you’ve done safe, but hard to share. There are a few others as well as some you apps for your PC.

My mom once said that growing old is not for wimps!

When my first child was born I was very young, 17. She had 2 sets of Grandparents, and 2 sets of Great Grandparents. As a typical 3 year old she began getting confused as to who was who. One day my Grandpa called to her, saying “Come to you old Grandpa.” From then on she called them “Old Grandpa” and Old Grandma." They thought it was funny as we all did. Great memories :-)

He’s a Rescue Grandpa.

I met all six of my† grandparents, though the the other two pre-deceased all the kids.

† My parents, unable to procreate after I broke the mold, adopted a slew of kids whose parents had both died from cancer in the same year… and whose relatives weren’t able to keep them together. So “we” had their two remaining grandparents and my four: Jean and Papa, Nana and Grampa, Jane and Bomp.

Dad is 90 and says the same thing.