[Mikeod]

OK. I never knew my dad's parents, but I spent a lot of time with my maternal grandparents. They came from England as a young couple with not much in their pockets. Even though the language wasn't a barrier, it still must have been scary to make such a move. They started in Chicago, then wound up in Massachusetts. I called them Nana and Pa. Pa was self taught at a lot of things. He had a concertina that he played a lot, and he taught himself to play the piano. Nana was quieter, perhaps because she was so deaf. She had a hearing aid that attached to her undergarments with a cable leading up to one ear. Two of my enduring memories are when she answered the phone she held the phone upside down so the earpiece near the aid was at chest level and spoke into the mouthpiece. The other was when Pa would yell at her for some reason, she would reach into her clothes and turn off her hearing aid and just smile at him. Boy, would that set him off.

As kids, we would get to spend time with them on fishing trips all over the state. When we got to their house, we would have Nana's fish and chips. I've not had them as good as hers, ever. She would set up a table in the living room and we would have dinner and watch TV.

Nana was famous for finally getting a joke well after it was told. Sometimes the next day she would let out a "Oh!" and start to chuckle. Then everyone would start laughing.

Shortly after I entered the Navy, Pa had a fatal heart attack. One of the hardest things I ever had to do was being a pallbearer at his service. A couple of years later, we lost Nana. My Navy commitments prevented my being at her service. I think about them when I'm with my grandkids.

Thanks for the thread.