Who are you?

quote:kennyman wrote:

quote:RayPeterson wrote:

On the one hand I'm glad that I still have two grandmas and one grandpa, but on the other hand it means I'm gonna lose all 3. And since they are all very old, this might happen soon and not with much time in between.

I went through this twice. Once when I was only 12. The second time (11 years ago) I couldn't bring myself to look in the casket. Grampa was very sick his last few months,and he lost over half his body weight before passing. I simply could not allow that to be my last vision of him. Grampa was a strong,influencial man, and thats how I remember him. R.I.P.

I can totally understand that. You have the image of the powerful and proud man in your head and don't want to lose it. I would have made it exactly like you.

Thanks Markus. Now I must insist upon you to immediately go visit your grandparents
and give them the biggest hug they have ever had. Giv'em one from me and NF too.

quote:kennyman wrote:


 Thanks Markus. Now I must insist upon you to immediately go visit your grandparents
and give them the biggest hug they have ever had. Giv'em one from me and NF too.

Thank you, too. I'll tell them "this one's from kennyman and nocternal feeder" which might probably cause a slightly confused look in their eyes.

No, but honestly, my eldest grandma is slowly getting weaker. I mean, apart from some "little" maladies like hardness of hearing, cataract, iron deficiency and so on she's alright for a woman who's 88 years old. But in general you notice there's a weakness coming over her. She's falling asleep more often now. She doesn't have the power anymore to leave the house and just recently she told me that preparing food also is a little too much for her now.

I'm glad my grandpa is still healthy enough to do many things in the household. He's still able to drive, to go shopping and so on, although he's not healthy himself (bladder cancer, but it's under control).

He used to work as a bricklayer and later, due to his diligence managed to become a construction supervisor. He's really talented in fixing and repairing things and whenever something need to be repaired, my parents call him and he's glad that he finally has a new task.

On thursday they celebrated their 60 years - marriage!

One of them will be the first to pass and I hope that the other one will be able to deal with that.

quote:RayPeterson wrote:

quote:kennyman wrote:


 Thanks Markus. Now I must insist upon you to immediately go visit your grandparents
and give them the biggest hug they have ever had. Giv'em one from me and NF too.

Thank you, too. I'll tell them "this one's from kennyman and nocternal feeder" which might probably cause a slightly confused look in their eyes.

No, but honestly, my eldest grandma is slowly getting weaker. I mean, apart from some "little" maladies like hardness of hearing, cataract, iron deficiency and so on she's alright for a woman who's 88 years old. But in general you notice there's a weakness coming over her. She's falling asleep more often now. She doesn't have the power anymore to leave the house and just recently she told me that preparing food also is a little too much for her now.

I'm glad my grandpa is still healthy enough to do many things in the household. He's still able to drive, to go shopping and so on, although he's not healthy himself (bladder cancer, but it's under control).

He used to work as a bricklayer and later, due to his diligence managed to become a construction supervisor. He's really talented in fixing and repairing things and whenever something need to be repaired, my parents call him and he's glad that he finally has a new task.

On thursday they celebrated their 60 years - marriage!

One of them will be the first to pass and I hope that the other one will be able to deal with that.

Now you guys are making me cry.
God Bless your Grandparents RayP,and tell them Happy 60th Wedding Anniversary from us.


And Kenny,I Love You!You know that.Your Grandpa was a wonderful man and you are a wonderful man too.Like Grandpa,Like Grandson.
 

Ray P, diamond wedding! Wow! 60 years, can you imagine? They have been blessed! It's sad to see the slowing down, and all the other things that come with old age. I know it's only natural, but it doesn't make it any easier as the love is still strong no matter what age.

You'd be surprised, though, at just how hardy humas are. They can go on for years yet. My grandma was a few days off of her 100th birthday. Had my grandad been alive with her she would have made it, but without him she'd given up really. He was 98 when he died. Not a bad innings as we say here.

(Your command of English never ceases to amaze me by the way)

60 years of marriage is hard to imagine. Especially nowadays when you hear from people breaking up all the time. Even after they had a very long relationship. "We just didn't get along with each other anymore!"

Maybe my grandparents stick together for such a long time because they went through many hard times together. World War 2, coping with life after their city was destroyed. Rebuilding Germany, living in pure poverty...

Then they were living in the Sovjet occupation zone which later (1949) became the DDR. They were able to escape to West Germany before the Berlin Wall was built. And so on.

Experiencing these challenges certainly strengthens your relationship.

Yeah, some are really hardy. Wow, your grandparents became really old. Good qualification for becoming old yourself.

May I ask: why does my command of English never cease to amaze you?

It's a compliment! As a German your English is superb.

Were your granps in Dresden?

Thanks for the compliment. Nonetheless I occasionally have to look up some terms.

Nope, they were not in Dresden but many other cities were lying in ruins as well.

Of course...

I might also communicate in German, if you'd like to. Although this might be a quite one-sided conversation. Let's try.

Also, dann werde ich mal einige Zeilen auf Deutsch verfassen. Mal sehen, ob jemand in der Lage ist, zu entziffern, was ich hier so schreibe. Das ist ein tolles Forum hier und "Meine teuflischen Nachbarn" gehört zu meinen absoluten Lieblingsfilmen. Ich denke, da stimmen mir doch sicherlich alle zu?

And you would certainly reply...

I'm not sure about Art, but I would reply.....What?

So Ray P. may I ask, are you bilingual?
Or do you have some kind of super-computer that translates?

Hmmm...neither this nor that.

It's just my school English privately improved by some English books and movies.

Some people tell me I'm quite talented in learning languages. And in learning them fast. And I have to say: Yes, learning foreign languages somehow comes naturally to me (although I don't speak many languages, just German, English and a little bit of French). Maybe I should have made more of this talent, who knows.

Nonetheless I'm using a dictionary from time to time since there are some phrasings and especially idioms I don't know yet. But I like learning new words and improving my English skills, so that's no problem (sounds a little nerdy, huh?).