RateItAll: The Opinion Network

She's good at popping out kids.

My grandmother was born in 1888, the year of the Great Blizzard, in Hoboken, NJ, but she grew up in the same section of NY that Cagney came from. She remembered NY when goats used to roam the muddy streets, and she told me how exotic Chinese men used to seem to her, with long braids and fingernails. She grew up dirt poor, and lost 2 brothers to disease. She married a Canadian, who became crippled as the result of his work. She raised 2 sons and a daughter (my mother) in Jersey City during the Depression. Everyone was poor then, and they were even that much poorer because of her husband's inability to work. She did what she could to raise her family, at one point even working as a janitress in the building where they lived. She nearly lost one son to diptheria (a disease nearly unheard of now). He was treated at a charity hospital built by Mayor Frank "I Am The Law" Hague. Although Hague is justly regarded as one of the most corrupt politicians who ever lived, my grandmother always held him in high regard because his hospital saved my uncle's life. Because of her poverty, she never got her eyes examined and ended up virtually blind. I remember her washing my mouth out with soap when I learned how to swear; I remember her letting me watch horror movies in her room late on those nights when my parents had gone out, even after they had decreed that I should be in bed early. When I got suspended in junior high school, and the vice principal called my house, he got my grandmother and I'm not sure he recovered from the tongue lashing she administered to him for days. "My Eddie," she said, "couldn't have done anything wrong." I also remember her annoying me with Biblical tracts, telling me to "Read this, Eddie, and pray." My parents had to put her in a nursing home in south Jersey at the end of her life, and I used to go down there monthly to visit her. It was always depressing, but she remained mentally alert right to the very end. The last time I visited her, she was cursing up a nasty blue streak, certainly something she had never done in my lifetime. It disturbed me greatly, and I remember telling my mother at the time, "I'm not sure how often I can keep coming down here. I'm not sure I can take this." A month later, my grandmother was dead. She was a simple woman, but she was strong for the people in her life that she loved. I sometimes find myself hoping that the God she seemed to take such solace in throughout her life exists and that she's in a happy place now. Even if such a God doesn't exist, I do take comfort in the thought that she's finally at peace.

I didn't know my grandmother very well. She died when I was very little, but I do know she loved me and I loved her.

My grandfather's help meet in every since of the term. They were/are survivors and were/are dedicated to their family.

I love my grandmother, but just don't have the same level of admiration for her as I for my grandfather or parents. There is no lack of respect for her that doesn't give her a 5, but her influence wasn't necessarily as great as some of the others in my life.

my grandmother is the sweetest person that u would ever met

My grandmother made life bearable. She allowed me to be a kid when my parents expected me to me a miniature adult. She allowed me to be me. When my husband tells me I'm a lot like her, I take it as very high praise. She was the best and miss her very much.

Grandma got run over by a reindeer. ... Nah, just kiddin'. My paternal grandmother scolded me cuz she thought I was talkative and troubled. I liked her, just didn't trust her. My maternal one couldn't understand English cuz of her Mexican heritage. She did give me souvenirs expressing her love for me. I admire her for that. Both died in the 1980's.

My Paternal Grandmother died when I was 16.She was a gem of a woman,but I was too young and foolish to realize how wise she was and how soon she'd be gone.I remember a woman who never spoke an unkind word toward anyone.She embodied the philosophy of Unconditional Love.