Grandma – An Introduction
What comes to mind when you read the following word?
Grandma
Sure, in the most pedantic, biological sense Grandma is the mother of your mother or father. But I would wager that next to nobody thinks of the strict definition when hearing or seeing the word.
Each individual’s relationship with the women they call Grandma (Grams, Granny, or G) defines what the word means. For those that never had a relationship with their Grandma, the word might conjure the image of an old women rocking on a porch while knitting. For others, hearing the title immediately brings to mind a vision of their own Grandma. And that vision is not a single, static image. It is accompanied by stories. Stories both happy and sad. Those stories are what this section of the website is all about.
More than 80 years have passed from my Grandma’s birth to the present day. A Great Depression, a World War and then a Cold one, computers, space flight, the medium through which this article is published and read; so much has happened in those 80 years. And yet so little of our timelines overlapped. Grandma and I shared 20 years of life together, 15 of which I remember.
While that is not nearly enough for me to be able to articulate who Grandma was and what she was all about, it is enough for me to be able to share some stories. If you will forgive this section for being a little self-indulgent, I will promise to make it as entertaining as possible.
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So who was my Grandma?
Joan Mable Hanson (nee O’Brien) was born to a grocery clerk and telephone operator in Reading, Pennsylvania. She met my Grandfather at a school dance in the 50s and at 16 she left high school to marry and start a family.
While raising her family in New Jersey she worked as an assistant librarian in the high school her children attended. A strategic occupation in which she could monitor her children and their influences. Adding to the horror this presented to her teenagers, she was also deeply religious and would often play host to priests, monsignors, deacons, and nuns.
Her four children resulted in a seven grandchildren (one of whom is totally awesome). The seven grandchildren are typically broken into two strings. The 1st string is a set of four grandchildren born within 5 years of each other. Their initials, in descending order, are C. A. J. J. They enjoyed being the cute grandchildren on which Grandma doted for five uninterrupted years. Then came the 2nd string.
The 2nd string is a set of three more subpar grandchildren within another 5 year period. Their initials being S. S. A. It didn’t take long until, with some moderate rearranging within the two groups that the grandkids were referred to as a collection of JJAC ASSes.
My earliest memories of Grandma are from the typical holiday and summer visits that most children make to their Grandparents’ home. When I reached middle school my family relocated to a house five short miles away from Grandma and my visits increased exponentially. This increased interaction, coupled a memory fogged by fewer years, is the spring from which many of my stories will flow.
I hope you enjoy.
