Grandma Stories

I love my grandma. And my great-grandma.

I do not love that my grandma does not know how to work a phone. I swear the women was born in 1737 instead of 1937, as she does not know how to communicate at all.

Regardless, I love my grandma.

I mentioned the thong story in my previous post, and I thought I would expound. My grandma and her two sisters go swimming every morning as a way to exercise. They are well-known at the community center where they have a membership. The woman at the front desk recognizes them when they walk in and pulls out their bowl of marbles which they use to keep track of the number of laps that they do (they are up to 22 laps every morning).

The dressing room at the community center is not a place meant for modest. Sure, there are dressing stalls for women to change in and out of their bathing suits, but that doesn't mean anything, as the women stand naked in the tree of life showers, in the sauna or next to their lockers.

One morning, my grandma, Barb and Jo (her sisters) walked in from the pool and a lady was changing next to her locker. She was wearing... her thong. When Jo noticed, she tapped the lady on the bum and said, "Hey, you're missing half your pants!" And then walked to her own locker, leaving my grandma and Barb standing there with their mouths hanging open.

The lady - thank goodness - laughed and said something passe, and then left. She came back a few days later and told Barb that she really got a good laugh and happily told the story to several people. To which Barb said, "That wasn't me! That was her," and pointed to Jo, wondering why she always looks like the troublemaker while my grandma and Jo always look like the innocents.

Another day, Jo was wearing her bathing suit that is wearing thin. The skirt is so droopy, it goes down to her knees. Now, my grandma takes her swimming very seriously. She has flippers and webbed-gloves in order to help her work out. This particular morning, her flippers and Jo's skirt got tangled up! Which was really rather ridiculous...

But yesterday (Monday), I had stayed over so I could go swimming before coming back down to Provo to work. They had told me all these stories, and as we were walking towards the pool, the lifeguard said to Jo, "Hey, you're not wearing your evening gown today!"

To which we all responded with rowdy laughter.

I love going swimming with my grandma. I love how popular they are at the gym and how people always notice when they bring me - a stranger - with the group.

Now, my great-grandma, sits in her little rocking chair and watches a movie or two before going to bed. I've never seen her watch anything other than what is on TCM. I don't blame her, though, because TCM plays some really quality movies. I did not know that they play silent movies, but apparently they do, because when we rolled in on Sunday, that is what my great-grandma was watching. I was immediately drawn in, and then laughed when grandma said, "I don't remember them having such silly movies back when I was a girl."

Because she did watch the silent films when they had the piano down at the bottom of the theater going while the movie played. They are a bit dramatic, and definitely silly, but probably no more silly than what we watch now. I really liked sitting there watching with her, though, and then listening to her explain the narration to my grandma about how "he said this" and then she "said that." When my grandma asked how she knew what they were saying, my great-grandma reminded us that, "You have to use your imagination," and I really loved that.