[coldknock]

They are a treasure beyond compare.

I miss my gramps and grandma a whole heap. They knew everything, it took me twenty years or so before I realized it, but they did.

Gramps. He was a gentleman. He was mean when he needed to be but never disrespectful, even to people he didn't like. He taught me everything that he had the time to teach me. I doubt it was everything he knew though, the man had the correct answer to every question I asked him every time. I tried to stump him more than once when I was a know it all kid, he'd scratch his head give me an answer that took me an entire day of reading and web searching to find. He didn't have to read about it, he'd already done it.

Grandma. She was a lady, plain and simple. She never made an issue of anything as long as you were respectful. If you weren't you simply didn't get invited back.

Gramps on cars, His favorite saying was "Grab a wrench and get your hands dirty boy. Reading's good but it don't mean spit if you don't know which way to turn a bolt."

Grandma on cars. Go help your gramps with his hotrod so we can go for a ride. He's gonna lose another wrench if you don't go quick.

Gramps on women. Find a gal you like and give her a marked $20 bill to hold for you, tell her it's so you won't spend it on something stupid and that you trust her. If she gives the same marked bill back to you a month later, she's a keeper. If she don't like your car, forget her, she's nothing but trouble.

Grandma on women. When she gives you the twenty dollars back you should buy her some flowers, you might get a kiss. Don't bother with the "back seat" girls, they're loose and loose girls are trouble.

Gramps on getting dumped by your girl. Dry it up boy! Boo-hooin' and slobberin' won't fix your car.

Grandma says, Here's a cookie baby. Girls are are like cookies, they're all sweet but there's only a few that aren't bad for you.

I could go on and on but I think you get the picture.

Go see your grandparents, if you still can, be sure to give them a hug. Listen to them because they know, everything. Remember everything they tell you about life in general because they're right. Spend as much time with them as you can, they may be gone sooner than you'd like.

Larry

[RCastle]

Sounds like my Grandather on my Mothers side. He passed a year ago on the 16th of April. They are the ones who raised me from a cub.Mom stayed busy at work,dad was in rehab forever and he is straight as an arrow now,but they were there for me and little brother.
Gramps was a mechanic,which is where I learned all I know,although he held the ideology that cars are not meant to be faster or stronger than what the factory made them.So we never did a rod project,just the same,the knowledge he passed on taught you the who's,what's,where's and why's of everything I did.
He is the one that taught me to shoot a gun,turn a wrench,tighten a chain on the bicycle,cut the yard in a uniform cut,respect household eletrical current,use a table saw....I could go on and on.
Grandma is doing allright although it is rough on her.Financally he left her in good shape. They have quite a bit of stock in Ford Motor Company that he bought years and years ago,that she just found out about 3 months ago when she got to doing some digging.
I have to go over to the garage next weekend and inventory all of his tools for sale.That will take the better part of the wekend.I found coffee cans loaded with sockets where he would get complete sts and not throw the other ones away because they are still useable.There are just as many " special made " tools in there also.I can take what I want and sell the rest. Of course,the whole family knows I am in charge of what goes on in the garage. So the older than dirt Craftsman box is spoken for.
On a side note,when I took the "more than stock" Malibu over after I finished it(Gramps was the first to see anything I built) He smiled and leaned in real close to the engine and told me,"damn,that sounds good,ya did alright boy."


Thanks old man.

[poncho62]

Never knew any of my grandparents.............were all either dead or in the old country....(England, Germany)................wish I had known them.

Heck, I wish I had gotten to know the old man better, He died when he was 57..................too young......I was too damn busy with my own life at the time........I miss him.

[61bone]

Grandad was a truck farmer. No he didn't raise Fords. As a 7 year old a fresh watermelon sounded real good. A cousin and I crept through the woodlot, low crawled down the corn rows, covered ourselves with Creeping Jenny and snake crawled into the melon patch where Granddad was hoeing the melons. We got to the closest one and did the only logical thing. GRAB IT AND RUN! He caught us before we got back to the corn and said "I'll teach you to steal melons" and explained the error of our ways with predjudice. Afterward he said "at least you could get a ripe one". He took us back to the field and showed us how to tell if a melon was ripe and let us take our pick.
Miss all my friends and family who have gone on.

[38 special]

Your gramps idea on women reminds me of my own philosophy. I can't remember if my dad told it to me or where I got it from but, if when out on a date you unlock the car for her and let her in first then by the time you get back to your side to unlock the door and she reaches across to unlock it. She's a keeper. My wife still does that. She's still a keeper. Of course nowadays some cars have electric door locks. But you don't have to use it.

[helrazr3]

those are well spoken words, all very true. i lost my grandmother just over a year ago i also lost my dad over 5 yrs ago and he was only 57 when he passed.

[Ghetto Jet]

I don't have any of those "summer at grandmom's" memories.

On my dad's side:
-My grandfather died when I was about 5, and prior to that he a had a stroke which gave him some problems. I hear he was a good man though, came from Ireland when he was about 5, worked for the Pennsylvania Rail Road for most of his life, fought in WWII.

-My grandmother she started showing signs of Alzheimer's a couple years before my grandfathers death. I don't remember her ever being normal, but I'm told she was pretty crazy to begin with. She died almost two years ago. Most of the family was pretty upset when she died but to be honest she was in such a deep state of dementia when she died I felt like it was a good thing.



On my mom's side:

-My grandfather, this guy is awesome, 78 years old served in Korean War, still works full time as a painter, still does whatever he wants, can probably drink more than I can, and always lights up a room when he walks into it.

-My grandmother, she's a sweet lady and the healthiest 80 yearold I know. but she's so religious it's nauseating, but hey atleast I know someone on this planet is praying for me, lol.

I wish I saw more of my mom's parents when I was little and even now, but my mom's got a sister that has problems. One of those problems is she's never really moved out of my grandparents house, except for short stints in section 8 housing, mental institutions, boyfriends houses, or jail. Nobody really can stand to be around her so the time I've gotten to spend at my mom's parents house has been minimal.

[killerformula]

my one gramps was a mechanical engineer, immigrated from Holland. He was a cool guy, knew how to do anything and everything. Learned to manage money from him, sort of. The saying is that "gramps could pinch a penny so hard it would bleed."

K