Photos from Toby loves you, John McNab, Kratzy, carter1007 & Liyin.

Let’s talk grandparents. Often under-appreciated, but still well-loved, they form the backbone of our family. They taught our parents most of what was eventually taught to us, & so it goes on. My friend sent me an email last night which included something about a favourite thing being “the smell of Grandma’s house”, which got me thinking about grandparents.

My favourite grandparent was my father’s mother. She was big & jolly & didn’t like to clean. She would go out & play golf with her friends all day while her husband was at work, & just before he returned, she would spray cleaning products in the air so he thought she had been slaving away since the morning. I used to spend my school holidays with her, & would fly to Dunedin on my own wearing a little badge from the airline which said “Solo Voyager”. We would ransack her drawers for things she didn’t want any more — she called this “finding treasures”. She made the best fudge & had an apricot poodle called Charlie. She had lots of friends & made everyone laugh uproariously.

When I was 10, she sewed me a doll that was the same size I was. The doll had red hair, so we named her Belinda Todd (!!!). I had to fly home with the doll sitting in the seat next to me. At home I have a collection of old cassette tapes which have me reading out stories & talking about my day on one side, & have her responding on the other side. We used to post them back & forth. Our favourite place to visit was Larnach Castle, & when I stayed with her, I would get her to tell me ghost stories every night.

I love her so much & wish she was still here!

Who was your favourite grandparent & why? Did you have nicknames for each other? What silliness did you get up to? Did they spoil you totally rotten? Tell us!