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My Name Ain’t Grandma …

I remember the day I learned that my grandparents actually had names besides “Grandma” and “Grandpa”. Damn near crapped my pants. I guess when we are young, you just sort of get used to the fact that everyone’s grandparents have the same names and everyone’s parent’s are named “Mommy” and “Daddy”. Who would’ve known that they had names.

To be honest, it was wierd. And there names didn’t fit them. I mean, my grandmother looked like a “Grandma” … not a Jeanette. Sort of like how your friend Bob, looks like a Bob … not like a Matt or something. Of course, if he’d been named Matt, then he’d look like a Matt. Ugh.

Anyhow, I quickly learned that everyone had names, from my aunts to my uncles to, well, everyone. Fucked up shit … playing with a kids mind like that.

The reason I’m bringing this up is because I’m bored as shit and have nothing else to write about. And also because I turned around and on my shelf is a wedding photo of mine and it reminded me of some friends I have that always ask me how “Grandma” is. They don’t know her name either.

See, at our wedding, my grandmother introduced herself to everyone as “Grandma”. My friends later came up to me and asked if my grandmother had a name and I told them. They laughed, because they only knew her as “Grandma”, since she didn’t give them an actual name. Now everytime they see me, they ask how “Grandma” is.

Another thing that gets confusing is the whole having kids thing and what they call your parents, their grandparents. Like I my grandmother was called “Grandma Smith”, and then my kids call my mother “Grandma Smith” … now we have two “Grandma Smith’s”. Confusing as hell. Either that or you rename someone, like “Grandma” turns to “Nana” or something. For us, my grandparents were differentiated by their last names. And then my grandfather’s mother … my great-grandma was named “Little Grandma” … because she was so little.

Ugh. Family dynamics — great ways to screw with kids heads.

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