My Grandparents

I love my grandparents. I hope Lil' Mootz loves his grandparents one day as much as I love mine.

My grandparents are exactly the same to me now as they were when I was a kid. They still spoil me the only way grandparents can spoil grandchildren. I'm still a little girl to them and I still feel like a little girl when I'm around them.

My Grandma and Pap are the quintessential young-at-heart grandparents. I can't imagine them ever getting old. I guess they are older, but they're not old. You would never guess their ages by looking at them and seeing them do the things they do. The memories I have of my grandparents are some of my most precious memories.



For birthdays my grandma would take me shopping. We would go to Toys R Us or a department store and she would set me loose. I did have a spending limit, but it was still a fun shopping spree. I could get whatever I wanted. I remember coming home with bags full of toys or clothes. There are still shopping trips that aren't in celebration of a birthday when my grandma will let me pick out some clothes. My mom and sister aren't very patient shoppers. They like to get in and get out, whereas I like to browse and hunt and try things on. I'm like my grandma, so we're excellent shopping buddies.

My pap would play games with me. We would play Memory, Chinese Checkers, Don't Spill the Beans, Alphabet Soup (I think), and probably a dozen other games that I can't remember. He tried to teach me to play chess once, but that didn't go over so well. I'm not a chess player. His nickname for me when I was little was Munchkin. I can remember sitting with him in his recliner and watching TV and I can still hear him saying, "Hey, Munchkin."

I have dozens more memories of them. Some of my favorites are...

They were the first ones to take me to the beach. Chincoteague, actually. And until I was 13ish, maybe, every summer we would go to Chincoteague. My pap had a boat, so we would go out and crab and fish. Down the road from the Anchor Inn (the motel we always stayed at), there was a go-cart place and we would race go-carts and take rides on the ponies.

I remember staying over at their house for a night. Getting to sleep over at their house was always a treat. They would sit in their recliners and I would lay on the couch and we would watch late night TV, specifically "Night Court." One of the sounds that will always remind me of the times I've spent with my grandparents is the NBC chimes.



Every Christmas, up until a few years ago, Meg and I would help my pap decorate their Christmas tree. We would put in the CD "A Very Special Christmas" and dance and sing incredibly loudly and very badly. We had such a blast and at the end of the night my grandparents had a beautifully decorated Christmas tree.

There are just so many times I can remember spending with them. Seafood picnics, family reunions, birthdays, holidays...

For Easter we would have an egg hunt at their house. During Thanksgiving we had a kids table because my grandparents' dining room wasn't big enough for everyone. My pap dressed up as Santa one year and my mom woke Meg and I up in the middle of the night so we could peek out and see Santa eating the cookies and milk we had set out.

Every Spring Break during college I spent down in Florida with them. My grandma would take me shopping and my pap would take me out on the boat fishing. Every night we would either go out to eat or we would get fried chicken from the grocery store.

I could just go on with long stories and short tid-bits.

My grandparents have a huge part in my life. I can't imagine my life without them.

I see my pap every day at work and I see my grandma at least once a week. She babysits Lil' Mootz on Mondays, so I usually stay and have dinner with them. I'm so glad Lil' Mootz is getting to spend time with them. I know they absolutely adore him and they love playing with him and talking to him. Lil' Mootz, of course, loves the attention.

I hope when Lil' Mootz is grown up, he can look back and remember his grandparents the way I remember mine. I hope he has hundreds of memories that include his Mimi and Pap-Pap and Grammy and Pappy and Pappy Caz.

I can't begin to tell you how grateful I am to have the amount of time I have had with my grandparents. I know many people aren't that lucky, for various reasons. I had so much time with them and I still have so much time left with them. They are two of the most amazing people and they're my grandparents. They've given me so many things: gifts, wonderful memories, much needed advice, their time, and most importantly, their love.