Life is not like in the movies. Not like books, and not like the conversations with friends where I imagine their lives in the brightest colors. Since my earliest childhood, grandmothers have been put into a corset of hyper-motherhood that probably no one can live up to. Grandmothers are, of course, motherly. They bake and cook all day, there's always something delicious to eat. They worry about the health and well-being of their grandchildren. They knit sweaters, make jam and at the end you get to take it all home. I would be lying if I said my grandmother didn't live up to some of these fairy tale character traits, she too slipped me money now and then as financial support, she too made her own jam and owns a garden. But my grandma is also a person apart from her role as a wife and mother. She has strong and weak moments. She doesn't like to cook anymore, she is very religious. She has a group of friends with whom she has similar problems as I have with my friends, because quarrels, envy, disappointment, political conflicts are also experienced by 80-year-olds.
Life is not like in the movies. Not like books, and not like the conversations with friends where I imagine their lives in the brightest colors. Since my earliest childhood, grandmothers have been put into a corset of hyper-motherhood that probably no one can live up to. Grandmothers are, of course, motherly. They bake and cook all day, there's always something delicious to eat. They worry about the health and well-being of their grandchildren. They knit sweaters, make jam and at the end you get to take it all home. I would be lying if I said my grandmother didn't live up to some of these fairy tale character traits, she too slipped me money now and then as financial support, she too made her own jam and owns a garden. But my grandma is also a person apart from her role as a wife and mother. She has strong and weak moments. She doesn't like to cook anymore, she is very religious. She has a group of friends with whom she has similar problems as I have with my friends, because quarrels, envy, disappointment, political conflicts are also experienced by 80-year-olds.