Jim Beam on the rocks...

Hi there inquisitive Internet reader, welcome to my blog post. It’s written by me, Molly, your typical blonde hair, green eyed 28-year-old non-married basic white girl. I live in Baltimore city in a closet-sized bedroom with a roommate who refuses to clean, on a block surrounded by a combination of young, hip married couples and some questionable families who have far too many people and animals living in their rowhouses.

I have an older brother and sister and as my mom likes to share with all of my friends, I was the “surprise.” If that wasn’t a bad enough start, my family decided to get more complicated 13 years ago when my grandparents started dating. Yes, you read that right. My mom’s dad and my dad’s mom got together...

I’m sure you have plenty of questions, so let me start at the beginning. In 2003, my grandmother (mom’s mom) passed away [sad moment alert] and shortly after my other grandmother (dad’s mom)’s boyfriend/significant other/not-sure-what-they-called-each-other man friend also passed away after ‘dating’ for 10 years. So, my grandparents turned to each other to cope. Of course, they had known each other almost 30 years by that point; why not lean on a good friend for comfort? At least that’s what we thought it was.

The first time we realized something was different was when my aunt came to bring my grandpa his groceries for the week and all of a sudden he had gotten a brand new king sized bed in his apartment (to accommodate his new girlfriend’s request, of course). We were all slightly stunned, my siblings and me especially. I mean, how do you process that your grandparents are dating? When does that EVER happen?

They were happy though, spending weeks at a time at each other’s retirement homes, playing golf and enjoying cocktail parties. They found it quite hilarious the confused look they would get when they had to explain they met because their children had gotten married to each other and they shared three grandchildren. I remember one time I was with both of them and while my grandpa was chatting with a friend of his, my grandmother introduced me to someone else as “John’s granddaughter.” I had to remind her that I was her granddaughter too! She just laughed because she didn’t realize. What in the world kind of situation is that?!

People always ask me if they ever decided to get married. The short answer is no, which thank god actually because explaining THAT family tree to everyone would have made things wayyyy more complicated. The long answer is that my grandmother decided long ago after my other grandfather (dad’s dad) passed away that she would never re-marry. I think part of it was to honor him and part of it was to protect his and her hard-earned money. We all knew this; it was pretty common knowledge. 

What we didn’t realize however, is that my other grandfather (mom’s dad) had not only proposed marriage to her during their ‘courtship,’ but he did it multiple times and even gave her a diamond ring (which we found much later, by the way because they hid it from all of us). Obviously each time she said no, but can you imagine attending that wedding??? Anyway, moving back to my story…

[Sorry, sad alert again]

Well, by February 2015 both grandparents’ health had dwindled. They hadn’t seen each other in quite some time as both couldn’t travel, but they still lit up talking to each other on the phone every few days. None of us could have possibly fathomed that both would pass within 24 hours of each other. The craziest part is that my grandmother went first and my aunt was going to tell my grandpa the next day but didn’t even have a chance to. We joke that she just said to him “Okay, John, it’s time to go – we have a party to get to!” 

 

It’s quite the story and while sometimes it was a little strange to see them together like that, I wouldn’t have traded those years for anything. They made me who I am today and it just goes to show the power of love, a solid cocktail, and a good king sized bed.