Grandpa and Grandma S

I've been thinking lately about my other grandparents, my Dad's parents so I thought I'd write a few lines about them today. My Grandma is still living, but is not the Grandma I remember. Her memory is pretty much gone, and whenever I tell Greg about her, it's the old Grandma I'm telling...wishing he could have known her the way I did. Well, he kind of did, since he lived in Arizona and they used to winter down there and had dinner at his house even. But, he was a busy teenager at the time who didn't really have much time for old people he didn't know. Little did he know that maybe he should have taken more time and found out about a certain granddaughter of theirs. And when I asked my Grandpa why he had never told me about Greg, he said "well, you never asked". True, I suppose, and a typical answer from Grandpa. When Grandpa was dying in the hospital, my sister had told him that Greg, L and I were coming to visit him, he could barely talk but told her "I suppose she's just coming to show off that new baby of hers". L was 6 weeks old at the time. But, back to memories of them. I stayed with them a few summers as a teenager helping Grandma mostly (I don' t know that she really needed my help, but she found chores for me anyhow) and used to like to get on Grandpa's thrifty nerves. He'd get after me for leaving the water running while washing dishes, and I'd tell him that if he had complaints, he could wash them himself. He never did. He was extremely thrifty in most ways, but also spent money in places the rest of us may think foolish. When my sister asked him a business question one time, he answered her, "you have no idea how many vacuum cleaners I've been talked into in my time, you'd better ask someone else." Grandma was (I say was, because she's not that person anymore) a very strong woman. Tough to put up with Grandpa's opinionated ways, and for the many things she did in her life. She always had time for her kids and grandkids, even though her own health sometimes was extremely low. They took grandkids on trips whenever they went anywhere (which was often, whether it be across the country or just a spur of the moment fishing trip) and I feel very fortunate to have had that individual time with them. I guess to sum up, it's sad to see that generation gone, since they have been around so long, but I'm thankful for the time they spent with us, teaching those lessons that only grandparents can teach.