Spent some time with the grandparents recently, helping out around the house. Being reminded of how much I picked up from them.
Grandma is super-fastidious, adores opera and theater, and always plans things out meticulously. She's still as (if not more) productive than I am, even in her late 80s. And is equally stubborn and independent; she practically swatted me away when I was doing the dishes, and insisted on helping while I cleaned up the exterior of the house prior to painting (I wasn't about to let her climb the ladder, though :I). And apparently, she too had a pretty rough and restless period of her life during her 20s and 30s, where she left behind her farming home, and tried to discover what she wanted to do with her life. She roamed around the Midwest, working in factories and offices, roomed with old friends or at the YWCA, even traveled to California to work card tables at a nightclub for a while during the 50s. All that, before coming back to the Midwest to get into local politics, and do the family thing.
Grandpa has his collection of musical instruments from around the world (including that tiny electric organ in the background), which he wrote and sang hokey, terrible, but heartfelt songs on. And then there is his lifelong love of logic puzzles, bad jokes, storytelling, and history, the basement workshop where he fiddled with electronics and machining projects, and the gardens where he grew his own produce out back. Very much a Renaissance Man. When people ask about his military service, he would say he'd been a soldier during the end of World War II... but what he won't tell them is that he signed up to use his electrical engineering and radio know-how to help rebuild the damage done to Japan and the Pacific Islands after the war. And when it came to advice, he's always been firm but understanding, diplomatic, and good at seeking compromises. The more I learn about him, the more I realize he was an inspiration to me.
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Topic: Bay12 Photo Share! Let's share photos and cool things. (Read 1635146 times)