rich and poor and a bit sad

[bookwormom]

I should not let it bother me, but it has been pricking the tears behind my eyes. I have one grandson who I get to see maybe once a year. I love him dearly. so this year I made him a really nice advent calender. got a remnant of blue cloth for 85 cents and sewed it into litlle sacks about the size of a cigarette pack. I made 24 of them, added a string and 24 clothespins from the dollar store. The little sacks were really cute, I decorated them with buttons and colorful yarn and painted the numbers on them. His daddy strung the line up and fastened the little sacks to it and every day he was to open one of them. I still had an assortment of little cookie cutters, so I put in a cookie cutter, then some vanilla sugar, another cookie cutter, then a piece of paper with a cookie recipe, another cookie cutter, a little envelope of baking powder for the cookies and so on. in one was a candle, in another instruction on how to make a hole in an apple and to put the candle in it and have daddy light it and tell a story. I also put sugar less gum in some, I wrapped up a quarter. It seems my little grandson really was excited about my gift and really enjoyed it and looked forward to opening a bag every day. so, his rich other grandma took him out of Kindergarden and flew with
him to Florida to go to Disneyworld. He did not even get to open half the sacks and never got to bake the cookies. Not that she did it on purpose or to spite me, still, it deflated me.

[nancy1340]

Book, maybe Disneyworld is ALL she has to give him. He'll remember your gift and get back to it.

[MNMOM]

Bookwormom,
Being a grandma this brought tears to my eyes, hopefully your son is doing a good job raising him so that your grandson will know the work and love that you put into that project.

My grandchildren's other grandma buys them things all the time, for no reason, but when they are given a chance as to who they want to stay with when mom and dad need a sitter, they choose our house. I always do projects with them and grandpa always plays games and cards with them. They seem to love both of us the same, and I know that your grandson will love you just as much.

Sometimes it can be hard when you see this happening, I know.

[lost1]

I think you are selling the grandkids a little short. They know much more than you realize. A few short years from now they will think Disneyland yeah I've been there. When they see the little things you have made for them it might bring a tear to the eye and they Will think I sure wish she were here to talk to now. Grandmas are very special people. I suspect you have given them many things they will remember and (hopefully) pass along.
I woke up one morning and found out that I was an old man. I still miss my grandma.
God Bless

[figgfamily]

I have to chime in here. I had 2 grans. One gave me love, home baked cookies, hugs and chastised me when I needed it.

The other one bought me anything and everything, spoiled me rotten and treated me like I was a princess.

The gran that loved me (my Mum's gran) was like another mum and I loved her dearly and miss her every minute of every day. I can tell you what she loved the most, what she wore and how she used to talk the whole time she was baking bread and cookies and just sitting on the porch with us.

My other gran (who is still alive) I barely speak to she is so mean and petty (very bitter woman who constantly knocks my other gran) and I know very little about her. Though I love her I don't have "fond" memories of the little important things:

Things that will keep in memories, like the advent calendar you made your grandson.

While it is all well and good for her to take him he'll have your calendar forever, the trip is just a moment in time.

[Zarah]

I, too, had a "rich" gran and a "poor" gran.

I lost the "rich" gran when I was 16. Looking back, I can see that she loved me in the very best way she knew how -- spoiling me with princess gifts and books and everything she thought might please me for a minute. And it saddens me, because what an impoverished love that was! But it was what she had to give, and she gave it.

My "poor" gran gave me very little in the way of princessy gifts -- although she did make my baby blanket, which I still have -- but she sure did pass on a lot of her vinegary wisdom! I think hers was a rich love, because she gave me what she thought would help me grow up into a wise and virtuous young woman. She didn't know much about spoiling -- she grew up the eldest of 11 surviving children in a family that lost the farm BEFORE the depression started -- but that wisdom was what she had, and she gave it.

I loved both of my grandmothers. I don't judge them one against the other -- they were very different women, and each loved me as much as she could, and gave from what she had. Still, I feel much closer to my "poor" gran, because what she had to give was closer to her heart, and more purely her own. And what she gave me was something that came with me into my grown-up years, while all the markers and pretty dresses and Nancy Drew novels are firmly planted in my childhood.

[Sunny]

Zarah put so beautifully the situation I had with my rich grandma and my poor one.

I admit that as a child, rich grandma's visits were more exciting than poor grandma's. But when the maturity finally came, poor grandma gave those lessons of life that are not lost or forgotten.

My rich grandma gave me mountains of gifts. Other than a piggy bank, all are lost and forgotten.

My poor grandma taught me to can pickles, taught me the language of the her country, and patiently coached me in geography as she explained (and eventually gave me) her stamp collection.

Both of my grandmothers gave me one of the loves of my life--gardening. Rich grandma had a gardner and I learned about roses and gladiolas. Poor grandma planted bachelor buttons in her bean patch and pansies in the peas. I grow garlic under my roses and parsley in the pansies. :D

[docjered]

I, too, had a granny who gave me of herself and a grandma who gave me out of her checking account. I miss my granny to this day. I never much cared for the money lady.

[Dixie]

I had two poor grannies. One taught me to churn butter, gave me notebook paper for Christmas, pieced an elaborate quilt for me when I married (begged me not to marry so young, said she married young and felt like she had been married all her life). Of course, I didn't listen and probably should have; although I now see and understand that my husband and I complete each other - where he's weak, I'm strong, and where I'm strong, he's weak; any way you look at it, he's weak . . tee hee . . . no, just kidding you know what I mean . . the other granny was very poor and had a passel of snotty nosed grandkids. She did things like take me up to the road to meet the peddler with her and popped popcorn for me, things like that. They were pretty old whenever I was born. If anyone has a grandparent, or parent who doesn't mistreat them or abandon them, they should be thankful to the Lord for having good parents. I wish I had bragged on mine a lot more than I did when they were alive.

[candy]

Bookwormom

Sounds like God has sent you a blessing in this thread. The message being that money does not matter. The important things are what we give from within.

[pinetreefarm]

Bookwoman,

This thread reminds me of my dear grandmere. She raised me the first 5 years of my life. Such a loving woman, beautiful physically and inside too. I miss her these 47 years. I often think of her.

It is the small things that count and he will love you always. The "way always opens."

Pine Tree

[BREEZEMOMMY]

THANK YOU for your grandma stories . i hope
to be one soon and will try will to remember
all of them .
MAY JESUS CHRIST BLESS YOU AND YOURS ,
breezemommy

[docjered]

I had a great-grandmother who was very, very poor. She lived on a widows pension: her husband was a rail worker. She lived a thousand miles away, so I only saw her on rare occasion. I absolutely adored her! She died when I was a young teen, and what I learned about her is this: she was so poor, she didnt have a phone and couldnt afford the bus to get around, but she always had something sweet baked and waiting for company which seldom came. She would get up every morning, get all dressed up, and sat looking out the window of her apartment, listening to the radio, waiting for somebody to come over and visit or take her to the mountains. They seldom came. Most days, she would spend alone with her radio, then go to bed, to repeat the ritual all over the next day. I loved her cherry pie. When I learned she was diabetic and never could even taste the sweets she always had made, it made me cry harder than I have ever cried before. Had I only been a bit older, Grandma Smith would have had a phone and gone to the mountains whenever she pleased!

[docjered]

Grandma Smith's daughter, my sweet granny, has been gone for twenty years now and I grieve her loss still. When I was 6 she made me a sock monkey. It is long gone; loved to death. I would give anything to have it back and in any condition. And now, this year, my mother has joined her. I miss her so badly that I will never be the same again. She lived to see grandchildren and great grandchildren and I am sure they will have their own stories to tell of her one day... I will make sure of it!