The Grand Life of Grandparents

[diem]

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[font=arial]This thread is all about one's relationships with their grandparents or the trials and triumphs of being one.

I love my grandparents though in fact, I like them even more. Wish though I could spend more time with them. My paternal grandfolks live in California while my maternal grandparents live in Naga, Cebu. I'm especially close to my maternal grandparents who helped raising me when my folks lived with them awhile in the first 5 years of their marriage.

But I so envy those friends I know who has a deep bond with their grandfolks, like they really learn something from them everyday or their lives are guided by having their grandparents's strong influences.

I call my grandfolks in California; Nanay and Tatay, those here in Naga, Mama and Papa. OT: My own parents are Mom and Dad

[Ms.Beau]

I wanted to create a thread on grandparent moments but i found this one and decided this could well be the thread to share in those grandparent moments of mine.

No, not my moments as a grandparent...LOL but my moments with my loving tatay and mama.

__________________________________________________ ____________

I have this very wonderful memory of my tatay, a memory so soothing you'd get thankful that it can be retrieved anytime, especially on a not-so-good day. I was around 12 years old and spending my summer vacation in where else--Bohol. One particular night, my cousins and I gathered around our tatay to prod him of some storytelling. Being the silent type, he wasn't inclined to telling us a story, but as he had just his usual glass of tuba and vino kulafu, he said yes to singing us a favorite song. And in that particular warm but breezy evening, under the dark-blue sky and luminous stars and full moon above, we silently listened to an old man's rendition of a soulful song:

“Bulan, pagkatahum mo. Sama ka sa maanyag nga bulak nga akong gimahal....”

I knew the song, but that evening it became a personal one. It became even more personal when many years later we had to bid our beloved tatay our last farewell.

"Apan wala na ang akong pinangga...ug sa bulan handumon ko ikaw."

That's for you, Tatay. You were (and still are) loved and will always be in our memories.



(and you're right...i was crying when i wrote this entry *sob)

[ocmkg]

it's true. it's so heart warming to think about our grandparents. i remember my lolo telling me stories about the spaniards...this helped me relate with philippine history back in high school...

[splendid moonlight]

Grandparent Quotes

Grandmothers are just "antique" little girls. ~Author Unknown

A child needs a grandparent, anybody's grandparent, to grow a little more securely into an unfamiliar world. ~Charles and Ann Morse

There's no place like home except Grandma's. ~Author Unknown

It's one of nature's way that we often feel closer to distant generations than to the generation immediately preceding us. ~Igor Stravinsky

When grandparents enter the door, discipline flies out the window. ~Ogden Nash

The history of our grandparents is remembered not with rose petals but in the laughter and tears of their children and their children's children. It is into us that the lives of grandparents have gone. It is in us that their history becomes a future. ~Charles and Ann Morse

You've got to do your own growing, no matter how tall your grandfather was. ~Irish Saying

Have children while your parents are still young enough to take care of them. ~Rita Rudner

more here http://www.quotegarden.com/grandparents.html

[majer]

my maternal grandma lives with us and she's the one who helps ma and pa in raising up the 3 of us (i've 2 bro). Now she's 80+ di na active mo help sa household kay old na siya and most of the times grabe na mo sige yawyaw i think mao gyud na mura na siya bata nga she make pansin to get our attention. im very thankful for all the love and care she give to us.

[Streetcar]

I grew up with grandparents cause my parents separated when i was 8 yrs old. so my grandparents were the ones who taught me life values and I guess because they were so conservative and very protective and strict with me especially growing up as a teenager under their care, i sort of carried that on till now, not overly conservative, i can be flexible as well but pretty much i got used to the way they raised me conservatively enough. They're both gone now. I grew up around pictures and photographs. My grandparents used to own a photography studio in our city and that too, i love pictures since they always took pictures of me If only they're alive to see the latest gadgets and cameras then maybe they'll leave those darkrooom and negative days behind but if you ask me, the old way black and white in developing those pictures with a few important tools like cotton balls, pencils and stinky smelling developers and pictures soaked and hanged actually comes out more professionally done. How i miss them and the old studio days

[Ms.Beau]

I got news that your memory has deteriorated. You talk of things over and over, cant remember names, and dont recognize faces like you used to. well, i always tell them, "what do you expect from someone who's 85?"

I consider you fortunate, blessed. at this age, you're still pretty independent. hopeful. i dont seee a trace of despair. you so inspire me.

Mama, i wonder if you know how grateful i am for your love. its so silly of me not to have told you! i hope to find a way to let you know now.

i want you to know that i remember so clearly that particular day when i, as a very young and active child, ran around the church...to your embarrassment. i believe you scolded me, but i dont remember ever feeling bad. you still did it in a way that told me i was loved...unconditionally.

i want you to know that yeah, i resemble you the most, i agree. i have your hands, too. I used to feel uncomfortable having heyperextended finger joints. but now they dont bother me at all. isnt it just wonderful that everytime i look at my hands i'd see yours too? you are so always with me.

Yeah, you will always be with me. though i talk about internet and you talk about the japanese occupation, and i talk about malling and you about cooking 'biko" and "binignit", and we are generations apart and could be no more different, still we are so much alike. we share a bond of love. unconditional love is you.

and one more thing, though i got a big share of the strong personality from my mother side, i got the emotionality from you. nasa likod sa pilok ra lagi akong luha.

i'll pay you a visit soon, Mama. meantime, this. my love and prayers through God to you.

[Onins]

Last week, we went to Dumaguete City, as we always do every year, but this time not to celebrate one of our Lola Ginang's grand birthday parties, but to celebrate a life of felicity, service, hardwork and despondence too. She passed away on March 7,2007 at the 3 in the morning. Our Lola Regina gave all her 105 years and six months to this world with no impression of dissatisfaction. Her only resentment would be the fact that none of her close friends is alive to see her go into the sunset, nor two of her sons, who unfortunately went ahead of her into the shadow. But it is a blessing, nonetheless, to finally send someone to rest who rightfully deserves so. No doubt lola has a hand on the growth of each member of the Camacho-Olegario clan, a total of three generations - thirteen grandchilren and I lost count on the grandgrandchildren She will be remembered as the glue, especially on her latter years, that kept the clan from fighting with each other, politically and businesswise.

Lola, we loved you, love you and will always love you. Thank God you can finally rest. God Bless!

[hera_82]

Sigh.... I only have 1 grandparent left. My lola sa paternal side. She's in Bacolod. Miss ko na to siya kaayo.
Feel ko gyud na palangga ko ato niya. Since I was a kid, she always made me feel na I am special to her. Ingon gani sa ako mga cousins na ako daw iya favorite apo. hehe!

I don't have much memories of my 2 grandpas coz they both died while I was still like a year or two. My other lola naman, died when I was in college. She also left me with very good & warm memories.

[khymm]

patay na akong grandparents sa akong mom & dad's side.
masuya gani ko magtan-aw anang uban na close au sila.
my lolo from my mother's side, when we were kids before we go to sleep, iya me kwentohan. Ibong adarna, mermaids etc.. sigh.. i really miss him. he died 10 years ago. kalit ra sad au to. we dont know unsa iya kamatyan.
my lola from my mother's side - wa nko siya na meet coz she died early. 4th year high school akong mom. Unknown disease pud ko. Kalit ra au. Some say gikuha daw sha sa encanto coz naibog daw niya

my lola from my father's side - i met her 2003 pa coz she lived in the states. 2 times ra mi nagmeet nya. lingaw au to coz she likes Bisaya songs nya magpabadlong kay gusto jud siya musayaw bisan maglisod pero she died last year coz tiguwang na
my lolo from my father's side wa pud nako na meet coz he died early