Just wanted to stop by and offer my condolences.

My Grandad taught me pool and dominos and how to make awesome punch. He was the closest thing to a real, traditional dad I ever had. He loved Larry Bird, so I love Larry Bird. He had a great sense of humor and a wonderfully open mind. He was a great guy.

You're not playing right, Art.

There's this guy I know named Frank. He's about 70 or so. Nicest guy I've ever met. I think he's a secret mob boss.

Oh no. I'm sorry, Ariel.

My Abuelita taught me how to play super mario bros and duck hunt before she died. She left me her nintendo when she passed. She used to play video games with her tongue sticking out the side of her mouth while she was concentrating. It ruled.

That is so cute, Phro!

Carlo, good thing he's a nice guy, so you aren't tempted to cross him.

I died my hair purple right before my last choir concert in high school. My mom was worried what my grandad would think. He saw me and he said, "You look really good in purple."

When I was a little girl he taught my how to dance by letting me dance on his feet.

Oops, I dyed my hair. You guys knew what I meant.

There's this other guy that I hang out with named Harris. 77 years old, MOD AS FUCK. He used to hang out with Roxy Music and has the best wardrobe and record collection I've ever seen. I actually convinced him to write a memoir, which will hopefully be coming out sometime in 2010.

My grandpa and I used to sit in his rocker/recliner and eat Werther's Originals and do word searches. He used to also pop his false teeth in and out of his mouth to make me laugh. I miss him. I'm sorry your grandad died. Were you guys close?

My grandpa constantly emails me forwarded lawyer jokes and fake virus warnings. Its kind of endearing, in a spammy way.

My grandfather was truly, utterly terrific. He was tall and intimidating, and perhaps to people who didn't know him, he might have seemed a bit cold or standoffish. But certainly not if you knew him. He traveled around the world in the foreign service but came back to Texas after retirement. He was smart and cultured but very decidedly unpretentious. He loved books more than anything, and instilled in me a love of books. He had a hilariously mean sharp sense of humor but was the kindest man imaginable, and the most generous and hardworking. I miss him horribly. I was a fatherless kid, and maybe it's for the better that my grandfather was my main male influence growing up.

@Johnny: Thank you

@Carlo: That is awesome. You'll have to let us know when it does.

@Jami: We were really close, but didn't talk often enough. He wasn't the kind of grandparent you told everything, but he was always watching over us.

@Xop: My grandad used to send a lot of spam, too! It took awhile to realize he wasn't even reading it before sending it out- or he would have never sent those emails praising Bush.

(I only had two grandparents and they both died when I was fairly young so I'm gonna write about other old people too.)

When I was in like 3 and 4k, I used to call my librarian Grandma. Because she was old and sweet and she loved me. I'd go to the library after school instead of daycare and she would give me Whoppers and she'd let me hang out in the back office and read bible stories with me. For Kindergarten graduation she gave me a teddy bear with a little flatcap and diploma and I carried it around with me EVERYWHERE until my mom washed it and it wasn't soft anymore :C

One time, my best friend was visiting while my abuelita was watching me, and I decided to play ALLIGATOR, and I bit my friend really hard and she started to cry. (I was THREE come on). So my grandma came outside, grabbed me by the hand and said "THIS IS WHY YOU DO NOT BITE PEOPLE", and she bit me! AHAHAHA.

I never bit anyone again :C

Then later she taught my how to hold a fork the right way.

My grandmother is an iron fist in, like, a fuzzy mitten. She's very very small and has the perfect bob. She always wears lots of jewelry and red lipstick. Her accent is exotic and unplaceable. She often says things to me like, "I think you inherited it from me, this sort of sex appeal. I always felt like I wasn't the most beautiful girl in the room, but men always looked at me, and I think you're the same way." She loves ballet and opera. She has perfect manners, but every so often she'll do something kind of off, like drink her soup with a straw.

my grandfather was an AMAZING cook, and he loved hot peppers, the hotter the better, and he was just one of the funniest people around. I dont know if it got any funnier than watching him get really frustrated with a conversation and him go "oh fuck them".
he told the best stupid jokes and always used to bring us joke books.

Oh Ariel, our hearts are with you.
Teo & I send hugs through the internet.

My Great Grandmother taught me how to sing scales and told me stories about her Vaudeville days, she had flaming red hair when younger that turned white in her later years. She always wore crazy printed moo-moos with her big ol bra straps showing, she was feisty and loving and a great defender who would speak out against family members' stupidity and didn't care what anyone thought about her. I regret that I couldn't spend more time with her and I think she'd be proud of me now.

Also, I've had the very fortunate honor of meeting my grandfather-in-law, Grandpa Chuy, the man who taught my husband what it was to be a good man and to love life. In spite of the many tragedies through his life, he was so full of love & happiness and felt it was necessary (and possible) to have a good laugh at least once every day. I'm glad Teo had him in his life and I'm glad I was able to meet him.

xo

my condolences, ariel

spent part of xmas visiting my grandfather at the nursing home. it always depresses me. it's a warm and well-kept enough place. but it's just...depressing. i mean, nobody who goes there ever comes back out. it smells of urine and bleach and various cleaners and mothballs. it took my grandfather like 30 minutes to unwrap three presents. he said five things to me. three of them were repeated questions ("How long have you been away, now?"). he's always been a quiet, stoic, reserved man. he never talks about my grandmother anymore - never mentions her, never asks about her. there's a photo of them on his bedside table that is more or less turned away/buried behind a tissue box. it made me sad. still, he's almost 90 and, except for his age, and his slipping mentality, is in good bodily health.

i really miss his wife/my grandmother, and my other grandfather - my dad's dad.

oh yes and hearts to you ariel. im sorry.

My grandfather left my grandma and married her sister. Then, when she got Alzheimer's, he divorced her and moved to Hawaii to marry his high school sweetheart, whom he had been corresponding with for the last 60 years. She was the widow of a rich businessman and owned a condo right on the beach in Kauai. The man had game...

my greatgrandmother was named MATILDA and she lived in a pink house that was pink on the inside AND the outside. her bathroom fixtures (including her jacuzzi tub) were all pink (but she liked to call them dusty rose) and she had a body puff thing for powder on the vanity and i would always use it in secret.

she smelled like oil of olay and had the softest skin and she was the only person my mother ever gave in to. she taught me to make pink applesauce and lentil soup and she bought me a superman costume when my mom said i had to be supergirl.

she also read a lot, but was super blind and had to read the large print editions. readers digest!

@Pepperonio: I LOVE this Matilda woman and am glad you knew her!

I love these older folks so much. They were the last of a truly wonderful generation, the likes of which we may never see again.

Aww. I'm sorry to hear this.

I was extremely fortunate to be born to very young parents and have known my grandparents since their 40's! They've been facing some serious problems recently that continue to call into mind the fragility and impermanance of life and all the many things that they've influenced, taught or helped me to experience. I'd be a much lesser person without them.