The Great And Grand Debate

(Due to three generations of women having children quite early in their lives, I have the luxury to not only have met my great-grandparents, but to actually remember my great-grandmother as she lived until I was halfway through my teenage years. I am in my great-grandmother’s kitchen, eating cake with my sister and two cousins, the complete set of her great-grandchildren. I am the youngest, about ten, while my oldest cousin is almost fifteen. My mother’s cousin enters.)

Cousin: “Grandma, can I borrow some juice? I ran out.”

(He gets his juice and leaves. My great-grandmother turns to face us with a thoughtful expression.)

Great-Grandmother: “Well, I do not like it when he calls me grandma. It makes me feel old.”

(Yes, ladies and gentlemen, that was my great-grandmother. Complaining to her teen great-grandchildren how being called grandma made her feel old.)