Grandparents

My mother in law, Ralph is at her craziness again. She has taken up an obsession over what my child will call her and her husband (when I say obsession, that is an understatement). I find this hilarious when new grandparents do this...because the vast majority have no choice in what they wind up being called.

My dad wanted to be Papa. My eldest nephew called him Pop. Thirteen years and 3 grandkids later, he is still Pop. My mother wanted to be called Granny. My son called her Nee Nee (which we spell NeNe at her request). Eight years and 3 grandkids later, she is still NeNe. (Don't ask why my parents both have 3 grandkids and yet not the same grandkids in case you were smart enough to catch that...it's a long story).

So my MIL is searching the Internets for the most perfectest grandparents names on earth, even going so far as to try on the Ukrainian names for grandparents. While I guess that I can understand her excitement, I still find it hilarious because the child will wind up calling her whatever he/she chooses and that will be that.

My father in law's request? "Call me Joe. All my kids just call me Joe, so this one can call me Joe too." Now Joe is a nutcase...but in this moment, he seems most sane. Why do grandparents, grandmothers in particular, seem to obsess over what their grandkids will call them?

I'm not saying that I will be perfect and not do this at all when my time arrives - but at this moment, I couldn't give two shits what my grandkids call me as long as it's not something like "Fatty" or something equally horrifying.

And to explain very quickly the number of grandkids thing above - here is a 30 second flowchart description.

Barry marries Laurie and produces Brenda
Susie marries Henry and produces Heather
All parties divorce
Barry marries Susie and produces Sandy
Barry and Susie divorce
Brenda gets married and has 2 sons
Sandy gets knocked up and has 1 son
Heather gets married and has twin sons
In that order
Hencetheretofore - both of my parents have 3 grandsons, though not the same grandsons since neither acknowledge the divorced step child's children as their grandchildren. I have 2 sisters whom I share blood with, but each of my two sisters only has one sister with whom they share blood with. Good times. I have 4 nephews and they each only have 1 nephew.

Got it?

Yep, I know, my family is whack. Now let me bring in gay Uncle Lee and crazy Auntie M and I can really shake you up!

Good night ya'll!