Storytelling

Statistics show that a grandparent is more likely to die during the midterm or final portions of a semester, because it is then that they begin to worry most about their college-age grandkids, and the pressure that comes from the students having big tests that affect their grades.   This statistic is scary, especially considering that I have a grandmother who has been recently admitted into the hospital.  I hope that she can recover before I start to have midterms or finals.

How can we help avoid this unfortunate event?  We can avoid telling our grandparents about our finals.  What they don't know won't kill them, right?  Literally.  But this does poise an interesting question.  How well do you know your grandparents?  Given that they can pass away at any time, maybe now is the right time to get to know them.

My maternal grandmother aspired to be a part of the Radio City Rockettes in New York.  She had been a dancer her whole life, and was comfortable on the stage.   As great as it would be to say that my grandmother was a Rockette, I would not be here if she was.  The only way her parents kept her home was by allowing her to marry my grandfather, whom she met while dancing in a Veterans parade that he was also a part of.  Had she not caught his eye, my grandmother may have been living out her dream in New York, instead of living out a new dream, with a handsome young man.

My paternal grandmother grew up in Beverly Hills, California.  She lived down the street from actors and actresses, though was not a fan of the spotlight herself.  She started off living a glamorous life, but when her father died and the bank "couldn't find" the money he had, and her mother moved them to Ohio with family.  As a young girl, she went to work in Panama City.  While she didn't stay long, she had experiences that we will probably never know of, having lived a much different life.  While I have never left the country, my grandmother has lived an extraordinary life of travel and glamour.
My paternal great-grandfather was a first generation American.  He had older siblings born in Italy and younger siblings born in America.  He was the first to be born in a America after his mother spent her pregnant months on a ship bound for The Land of Opportunity.  What an amazing experience.  While I am grateful to have lived my entire life in America, I can only imagine the excitement of a young child, growing up in a land that is foreign but offers so many possibilities.  He went on to play professional baseball for one season only, but had the opportunity to meet extremely famous baseball players from decades ago.
If these changes, moving to America, moving to Ohio, and so on never happened, I would not be here today.  Life for my relatives could have turned out so much differently, had my great-grandfather been a professional baseball player for years and become famous, or had my grandmothers father not died and she continued to live a life of fortune and fame.

Things change in life, some good and some bad.  But for every change in life, there is a reason, and those reasons lead to you being born and living your life the way you do.  So while your grandparents may be family that you see every weekend, or family that you only see twice a year; they are family.  And they have gotten you to the place you are at now.  When this semester becomes stressful and you start to think about the statistics, take the time to talk to your grandparents about their life, rather than your big test coming up.  The stories they tell you could be startling.