Today was the 6th Lakers game... instead of watching it at home with the Lakers crazed family, I went to my grandparents house to watch a Spanish soap opera translated into Armenian called "Dame Chocolate." I showed up there just to pay them a visit and eat something. I sat down and got myself some bread and cheese... my grandmother (not the one with Alzheimer's... my dad's mom) began to talk (which she does so much of...) about random things. Usually when she begins to talk, I, kind of, tune her out and nod my head from time to time, but not in a mean way. I'm pretty good at keeping up with my nods... my grandfather, on the other hand, hardly says anything. He only speaks when he has to let my grandma know she's talking too much... so, as I ate my bread and cheese, a Spanish soap opera came on... that's when I thought, "Shit, I should get outta here before she starts explaining what's going on in everybody's life..." but, I couldn't just get up to leave, and, guess what happened next... ya, she started explaining all of it, from beginning to current events... who was in love with who, who was a dirty man, who was a good looking man, who was a liar, and everything else that usually goes on in soap operas. I just sat there nodding my head and raising my eyebrows once in a while for expression variations... she talked, and talked, and talked, and... talked...My grandparents get extremely excited when I, or any of the other grandkids, visit them... so, I try to make it frequent, but short. I notice their happiness when we walk in the door and their happiness is worth my ears burning out for a couple of hours.
After I finished eating, and, as soon as I felt like I was going to knock out on the couch, I got up to leave. Like always, they tried to convince me to stay, but the Armenian translation and Spanish background speaking was making me crazy. As I got up to wear my shoes, my grandfather said, very seriously, (in Armenian, of course) "Ok, so come by sooner, don't come once a year... (he would've said that even if I had been there yesterday) so, here's our schedule, just so you know... Mondays, we're home, Tuesdays, we're home, Wednesdays, we're home, Thursdays, we're home after 2pm because we go to Daylight (mankapartez), Fridays, we're home, Saturdays, we're home, and, Sundays, we're always home, unless we're somewhere else..." After he was done, I just looked at him in amazement, and said, "Ok, I'll come by... I promise... bye, bye" as I kissed them both...
Tip of the Day: If you have grandparents, enjoy their company once in a while, and, sometimes, listen to what they have to say... even if they talk too much... they can be very interesting at their age.
WOW. My grandma is the EXACT same way. You just described the very same scenario that happens when I go over to visit her - the Spanish to Armenian translated soaps... and the talking, talking, talking, talking, explaining, describing, commenting, more explaining, more talking, and of course, my tuning her out. I usually feel horrible for it, but now I know it must be an Armenian grandmother/daughter thing. I know I will definitely miss it one day. I also know I'll be doing a lot of talking, talking, talking myself one day. :)
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