Like most people, I have four biological grandparents. But because my parents and grandparents were all well-versed in the art of remarrying, there are ten to twelve people I can consider grandparents. To wit:
[ol]
[li]My mother’s mother[/li][li]My mother’s father[/li][li]My father’s mother[/li][li]My father’s father[/li][li]My stepfather’s mother[/li][li]My stepfather’s father[/li][li]My mother’s mother’s second husband[/li][li]My mother’s father’s second wife[/li][li]My mother’s father’s third wife[/li][li]My father’s father’s second wife[/li][li]My father’s father’s second wife’s first husband[/li][li]My father’s father’s second wife’s third husband[/li][/ol]
The reason I say ten to twelve is because I’ve never even met #11, and I only met #12 once (before he and #10 divorced). I’m not even going to bother counting aunts, uncles and cousins.
All my grandparents are dead (not surprising, since I’m now 60 years old), and I never met my grandfathers.
I guess that I do have a fifth grandparent, even though she died before my parents born, since my mother was product of her father’s second marriage. I was vaguely aware of it before, but it was made more real for me about a month ago when I met for the first time a descendant of the first marriage. So what are you if you share just one grandparent? Half-cousins?
I guess I should’ve titled the thread “How many grandparents have you ever had”. On my list, #1-#4 and #6 are deceased, but I didn’t think to count them off.
As long you have an ancestor in common, you’re cousins. If you’re both grandchildren of the common ancestor(s), you’re first cousins once removed.
Dad’s side passed away at 65 and 86-or-87. Mom’s side is alive and kicking anybody who gets within reach. Gramps (91) had a stroke a month ago and it awakened his fighter side, which had been kind of dormant of late; he’s not getting any rehab (in theory he should, but younger people have a higher priority) but already can dress himself, go to the bathroom by himself and eat by himself so long as someone else cuts the food. They’re still living on their own but have gotten a cleaning lady. Thanks God, the cleaning lady doesn’t mind having a 92-year-old pocket fury watching over her shoulder as she works.
4, all dead, and even if they wanted to divorce (father’s side) they never would have.
Poor thing. I only had one grandparent whom I met alive, and even those brief moments are exceedingly precious. I suggest you volunteer at an old folks’ home or a Veteran’s Hospital.
OK, as you may know, Hispanics use two lastnames. This tidbit is necessary in order to follow the story. Also, in Spanish “step-anything” has negative resonances, it somehow implies you don’t get along. Names have been changed to make sure I don’t get murdered if they read it, I’m not explaining anything that’s not true but some of them are picky.
Mr García married Miss Pérez. They had 2 kids, whose lastnames are García Potter.
Mr García died.
Mrs Pérez, widow of García, married Mr Sanmartín. They had 4 children, Sanmartín Pérez.
Mrs Pérez died.
Mr Sanmartín married Miss Martínez. They had 3 children, Sanmartín Martínez.
Mr Sanmartín died.
Mrs Martínez, widow of Sanmartín, married Mr Bonilla. They had 5 children, Bonilla Martínez.
If you tell any of those 14 children (most of whom are grandparents by now and some of whom are not genetically related) that they aren’t brothers, or the next generation that they aren’t cousins, or the third generation that they’re not second-cousins, you’re in for a lot of pain. At the very least you’ll have over 50 people yelling at you at the top of their lungs.
My mother’s parents where both alive when I was born, although her dad died when I was a toddler.
My dad’s parents were also alive when I was born. My grandmother on that side died when I was 18. My grandad remarried 3 years later, giving me a step-grandmother. Grandad died just 3 weeks after he remarried. And his second wife died 10 or 12 years after that.
So that’s 5.
If you go back to great-grands, I did have one great-grandparent whom I knew personally. My paternal grandmother’s mother lived to be around 112. She was married 3 times, BTW, although I never knew any of her husbands.
1 and 2: my mother’s parents
3 and 4: my father’s parents
5 and 6: my mother’s ex stepfather (that raised her) and the lady he married after he divorced my grandmother
7 and 8: my mother’s other ex stepfather, and her current stepfather.
9 and 10 : my father’s current stepparents
11 - about 13* my father’s former step parents
*I’m not really sure how many there were. Could have been two, or could have been three. I’ve only met one of them.
1,5,6 and 8 all came to Christmas dinner last year at the same time (my grandmother, and her husband usually try to leave before her ex, and his wife show up). It was quite uncomfortable.
