What was going on in my mom’s head during this interaction?

[Anonymous]

Your mother was being really annoying. She needs to get a grip and enjoy the relationship she has with her granddaughter, the health that lets her travel with her granddaughter, and the wealth that lets her buy something for her granddaughter. If she wants the kid to have a keychain, then buy her a keychain or t-shirt, or tell your kid “you can pick anything that has the location name on it.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think that sometimes our understanding of our mortality gets the better of us...staring into the abyss wondering if the small speck of me will be remembered because I will not for long be among you. Be kind and give mom some extra hugs.

This is a kind and compassionate response.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're thinking too hard about it. Your mom thinks people at souvenir shops buy tshirts or keychains. She was thrown by your daughter not fitting into that. That's all.

You’re probably right. It’s just her reaction was so extreme. She was flummoxed for the rest of the evening over it. Her whole mood changed and she kept talking about it.

That level of rigidity is so ridiculous. Way to ruin the rest of a day of vacation over nothing, Grandma.

[Anonymous]

Ask your mom!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're thinking too hard about it. Your mom thinks people at souvenir shops buy tshirts or keychains. She was thrown by your daughter not fitting into that. That's all.

You’re probably right. It’s just her reaction was so extreme. She was flummoxed for the rest of the evening over it. Her whole mood changed and she kept talking about it.

I could totally see my mom having this type of reaction. And yes, she is a want to be star of the grandma show.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You mother is the star and writer of The Grandma Show. On this episode, the family went on a child-centric vacation (was it gatorland? for some reason, i'm picturing this happening at gatorland). Everyone was having a good time but Grandma, because people weren't paying enough attention to her.

But Grandma is the star of the show, so she got to work making herself the center of attention. She cast herself in the role of Generous Granny, buying her granddaughter any souvenir she wanted.

But alas! Granddaughter picked the wrong souvenir! A gator charm for her crocs instead of a gator keychain?? Poor Grandma. Such a generous soul and so poorly treated by the granddaughter who had the gall to pick something she liked.

"She'll never remember me and the wonderful time we had watching chickens get fed to gators! when she looks at her shoes she will only think of merrily zooming down the Gator zipline!" Grandma exclaims, crying crocodile tears.

Everyone anxiously reassures Grandma they love her. Grandma turns to look out dreamily towards the camera, happy that all eyes are on her (for now)...

This is my mom. We are on a cruise (me, DS, grandma and my aunt who I only see twice a year). My mom is upset that I spend time with aunt and is jealous. After today’s port excursion she returned by herself to ship and then cried that I was heartless for checking in to make sure she was safe, yada yada yada.

She cried to DS and told him I was a bad daughter who ignored her. I can’t deal with this anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You mother is the star and writer of The Grandma Show. On this episode, the family went on a child-centric vacation (was it gatorland? for some reason, i'm picturing this happening at gatorland). Everyone was having a good time but Grandma, because people weren't paying enough attention to her.

But Grandma is the star of the show, so she got to work making herself the center of attention. She cast herself in the role of Generous Granny, buying her granddaughter any souvenir she wanted.

But alas! Granddaughter picked the wrong souvenir! A gator charm for her crocs instead of a gator keychain?? Poor Grandma. Such a generous soul and so poorly treated by the granddaughter who had the gall to pick something she liked.

"She'll never remember me and the wonderful time we had watching chickens get fed to gators! when she looks at her shoes she will only think of merrily zooming down the Gator zipline!" Grandma exclaims, crying crocodile tears.

Everyone anxiously reassures Grandma they love her. Grandma turns to look out dreamily towards the camera, happy that all eyes are on her (for now)...

This is wonderful and it reminds me of my aunt. Thank you!

[Anonymous]

I don't think your mom understood that the croc things were related to the locale.

My mom can be like this too.

[Anonymous]

When I was a child and my parents took me to Williamsburg
(and I think they did it for me, not because they wanted to go...) they were mad, that in the gift shop, I wanted a marionette puppet and not some "token" with Williamsburg written on it.

I think that generation were more collectors of trinkets .. of places they had been, the name written on it. Had meaning to them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You mother is the star and writer of The Grandma Show. On this episode, the family went on a child-centric vacation (was it gatorland? for some reason, i'm picturing this happening at gatorland). Everyone was having a good time but Grandma, because people weren't paying enough attention to her.

But Grandma is the star of the show, so she got to work making herself the center of attention. She cast herself in the role of Generous Granny, buying her granddaughter any souvenir she wanted.

But alas! Granddaughter picked the wrong souvenir! A gator charm for her crocs instead of a gator keychain?? Poor Grandma. Such a generous soul and so poorly treated by the granddaughter who had the gall to pick something she liked.

"She'll never remember me and the wonderful time we had watching chickens get fed to gators! when she looks at her shoes she will only think of merrily zooming down the Gator zipline!" Grandma exclaims, crying crocodile tears.

Everyone anxiously reassures Grandma they love her. Grandma turns to look out dreamily towards the camera, happy that all eyes are on her (for now)...

You are seriously amazing! Yes, please do the other threads!

Gosh, you guys. Don't egg her on. She's got a lot of screws loose and it is annoying AF to see her ageism repeated on every.single.thread. Encourage her to get therapy, instead! That would be much better for her and all of us, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You mother is the star and writer of The Grandma Show. On this episode, the family went on a child-centric vacation (was it gatorland? for some reason, i'm picturing this happening at gatorland). Everyone was having a good time but Grandma, because people weren't paying enough attention to her.

But Grandma is the star of the show, so she got to work making herself the center of attention. She cast herself in the role of Generous Granny, buying her granddaughter any souvenir she wanted.

But alas! Granddaughter picked the wrong souvenir! A gator charm for her crocs instead of a gator keychain?? Poor Grandma. Such a generous soul and so poorly treated by the granddaughter who had the gall to pick something she liked.

"She'll never remember me and the wonderful time we had watching chickens get fed to gators! when she looks at her shoes she will only think of merrily zooming down the Gator zipline!" Grandma exclaims, crying crocodile tears.

Everyone anxiously reassures Grandma they love her. Grandma turns to look out dreamily towards the camera, happy that all eyes are on her (for now)...

You are seriously amazing! Yes, please do the other threads!

Gosh, you guys. Don't egg her on. She's got a lot of screws loose and it is annoying AF to see her ageism repeated on every.single.thread. Encourage her to get therapy, instead! That would be much better for her and all of us, too.

Grandma has joined the thread!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You mother is the star and writer of The Grandma Show. On this episode, the family went on a child-centric vacation (was it gatorland? for some reason, i'm picturing this happening at gatorland). Everyone was having a good time but Grandma, because people weren't paying enough attention to her.

But Grandma is the star of the show, so she got to work making herself the center of attention. She cast herself in the role of Generous Granny, buying her granddaughter any souvenir she wanted.

But alas! Granddaughter picked the wrong souvenir! A gator charm for her crocs instead of a gator keychain?? Poor Grandma. Such a generous soul and so poorly treated by the granddaughter who had the gall to pick something she liked.

"She'll never remember me and the wonderful time we had watching chickens get fed to gators! when she looks at her shoes she will only think of merrily zooming down the Gator zipline!" Grandma exclaims, crying crocodile tears.

Everyone anxiously reassures Grandma they love her. Grandma turns to look out dreamily towards the camera, happy that all eyes are on her (for now)...

You are seriously amazing! Yes, please do the other threads!

This is amazing! Yes, please!!!

[Anonymous]

My mom is totally like this and always has been. She gets a certain idea in her head of how some event or interaction will go and then she just CANNOT DEAL wind things don’t play out and she imagined. Example, when my DD was two years old we flew across the country to see my mom. The next day she wanted us to go to a butterfly exhibit. We were kinda jet lagged and tired but packed up and headed off. On the drive there dd fell asleep and was pretty heavily conked out by the time we arrived at the exhibit so I suggested we just sit in the car and chat and let her take a nap to make the rest of the day go more smoothly. My mom got super pissed, started ranting about how I let my toddler “run the show.”

[Anonymous]

^^ Pp from above. To clarify I wasn’t suggesting we skip the butterflies, just that we give the kid a chance to get a little bit caught up on her sleep. My mom wasn’t having it. She imagined herself in there enjoying the butterflies with her two-year-old granddaughter at that moment and anything other than that was going to be a big problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think that generation were more collectors of trinkets .. of places they had been, the name written on it. Had meaning to them.

I am currently stirring my tea with one of the 4 million souvenir silver teaspoons my mother collected and enshrined in her living room. (This one reads “Germany.” In English.) It would kill her to see The Precious Teaspoon being used for actual tea, but, well, she’s already dead.