#the stepgrandmother i call firstname came along at age 12 and by then i was full up on grandmothers | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

coquelicoq · 24 days ago

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i really have almost the entire range of possible grandmother naming conventions represented. the stepgrandmothers are mrs. [last name], [first name], aunt [first name], and grandma [first name]. the biological grandmother is grammy. the great-grandmother was gram. i'm just missing a grandma [last name] but i think other that that i've covered all the levels of formality available in my culture.

#i was just addressing a christmas card to the mrs. lastname grandmother #(i know i said i wasn't doing holiday cards this year but there are a certain number that are unavoidable)#and going wow this is insane. i actually call her mrs. lastname? like a teacher???#this woman has been my stepgrandmother for what. 28 years?#at the time (age 7) i was really pissed about having a stepfamily so i was not at all receptive to being on friendly terms w them #and since i started out calling them that it's just never changed #the grandma firstname married my grandfather before i was born so she was just a regular grandmother during my childhood #but since my grandfather died i don't think i've seen her even once. but she still has grandmother privileges. she was (wait for it)#grandfathered in #the aunt firstname was also with my (other) grandfather since before i was born but she didn't like being called grandma #maybe it made her feel old? she was used to aunt because of her niece so that's what she wanted us to call her too #the stepgrandmother i call firstname came along at age 12 and by then i was full up on grandmothers #and feeling pretty skeptical about this new stepfamily. so she got called just her first name which is maybe borderline rude #from a 12yo in your family? not outright rude. but 'grandma firstname' would have been nicer #i just didn't feel like giving her grandmother status #but it was still more familiar than mrs. lastname. i can't decide if mrs. lastname comes across as respectful or really distant #it does feel like a little much but at this point it's been 27 years...i can't change it or i'll just be calling attention to it #the grandfather situation is kind of similar but i have fewer of them so it was just grampa [first name] for the two biological #and then mr. [last name] and [first name] (matching their wives)#for the most part i think the grandparents who died before i was born i just refer to as the parents of the people i know #so my dad's mom i just call 'my dad's mom' or 'my paternal grandmother'#anyway. back to these fucking christmas cards

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