Mesa, AZ - Grandmothers

Recently I mentioned to a friend of mine that my grandmother wore those sensible sturdy black shoes with laces and heels about 2” in diameter. She laughed and then sent me a picture of her grandmother with the same kind of shoes. And, the same dress, by the way, black, mid-knee length, easy to care for material. Then I found a picture of Gary’s grandmother with his grandfather. There certainly was a look about these women. Sensible, no-nonsense, down-to-earth, practical, hard working, focused. And, look at how my grandmother is carrying her purse - no one is going to steal that baby. (And if anyone were to try, she’d bop them on the head with that self-same purse.) That was grandmothers in the 1950’s and 1960’s when we were growing up. And, they all looked that way. And they were called comfortable traditional names like Grandma and Grandpa.

And, did these women ever wear pants or slacks or jeans? Heavens, no. That was not lady-like. Katherine Hepburn might have worn slacks but she was a movie star. These women were hardy women of the heartland. Gary’s grandmother, on the right, who lived into the early 90’s, did finally find the joys of wearing slacks. Her daughters bought her a pair for Christmas. She went upstairs, changed and came down the stairs, standing at the newel post while her family clapped, laughed and told her she looked great.

Now, here’s a picture of my sister- and brother-in-law when we all went for a bike trip down the trails in Lanesboro. They have 2 wonderful grandchildren. How times have changed. Today grandparents wear jeans, sneakers, sweatshirts, shorts. They ride bikes, roller-blade, scuba dive and hike. They are fun-loving, modern and athletic. And they choose edgier names like Poppa and Mimi.

On the other hand, no matter what they look like, what they wear, what they do and what they are called, they are still grandparents and aren’t they wonderful?

I’m wondering what the younger generation will look like when they become grandparents. Tattoos, lots of rings and they’ll call themselves ‘Dude’ and ‘Chick’ or other names that I don’t even want to put into a clean blog, and, quite frankly, I probably don’t even know.

5.61 0 (it’s pretty flat here in Mesa)