I said had, because I had to do an interview for Psychology on how they've adjusted to old age but really my grandparents house and my grandparents are my favorite people in the world.
They live in a town with about 100 people, and they reside in an old school house. Not one of those "Little House on the Prairie" schoolhouses, but a legitimate concrete building complete with an east and west gym (that my grandpa now uses to keep all the things he tinkers around with in), old classrooms converted to bedrooms and old locker rooms.
You could say my childhood time spent at that place was the sh*t. And you'd be right.
My grandfather is a man of few words. In casual conversation, he will not be the guy talking your ear off. He might not even be the guy you notice is actually actively engaged unless someone directly asks him a question. I think this only means that when he does speak, he means what he says and says what he means. Some of my favorites of his are:
"When sliding down the banister of life, you better hope all the splinters are pointing the right direction."
"You can dig yourself a hole, or you can keep on trying to run along top of the ground."
(after my brothers, the cousins and myself had walked in from the backyard where my brother had tried to jump over the car, failed, and put his hand through the windshield)... "You kids have been watching too many movies."
My grandma and grandpa's relationship dynamics are definitely the reason our family loves the way it does. These two love nothing better (especially my grandpa) than to give each other a hard time. For example? One day, we were eating ice cream in my grandparents living room (common practice in this household... it's like my grandmother has unlimited supply). There was also a fresh bowl of fruit out, and Cheetos puffs. My grandmother, as she loves to do, was telling us what was available and encouraging us to eat our fill. "You could even put some of the fruit in your ice cream, it will taste great!" My cousin jokingly says to her something about throwing some Cheetos on top and she laughs saying "Well that would just be silly!"
At that moment, it's like a switch went off in my grandfather's head. He looks up at her, with his ice cream bowl sitting in front of him, gives a little smirk, grabs a handful of Cheetos and tosses them straight onto his vanilla ice cream. My grandmother gasps "Dick what're you doing?!", but he has already scooped up a big helping of Cheeto flecked vanilla ice cream and, with a triumphant and somewhat defiant look, was going back for more. Pretty soon, the whole family did as such, with my grandmother shaking her head the whole time, but laughing.
When I interviewed them that night, they were talking about how socially, they don't appreciate participating in activities that happen at night anymore. My grandmother especially does not like it because of the fact that driving at night bothers her.
"Well, I can do it, it don't bother me none to go out for a drive in the dark." -GP
"Yes, Dick, well I mean, you can do it but I don't like it. You shouldn't!"-GM
*smile on his face, honest to God twinkle in his eye* "Well, that's my privilege now ain't it?"-GP
"Well, I suppose so!" *followed by a little bit of laughter*
I also guess I understand where it is I get the resistance to authority character trait, too.
Anyway, my point is, I love my grandparents. I talked about anything and everything with them that night and was reminded what valuable people I'm related to. My aunt even came over and truly provided me with a sense of unconditional love and understanding. I'm so lucky to have them around, and look up to them so much. There's no one like family.
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