Odd things your elderly relatives were concerned with that caused you embarassment or confusion

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Odd things you have seen elderly family members be worried about

When I was younger I would go to visit my grandparents during some of the summers. They were in their 60s/70s at the time. I remember two things they were very concerned about all the time:

When driving their car and parking it off of asphalt, that their car would set fire to the grass they were parked on. My grandfather would drive around for a long time trying to find gravel only. The grass he was concerned with was nowhere near touching the bottom of his car.

When going to a grocery store (not a mom and pop store mind, you but a big chain), calling them on the phone at noon on a Wednesday to make sure they would be open before driving over. He even went so far as to yell at the manager when we went to the store because no one answered the phone so he didn’t know if they were open or not before we got there.

So what bizarre idiosyncrasies did your grandparents inflict upon you and the world that may have embarrassed or confused you?

2

My dad claimed you should never turn on a car’s air conditioning while the car was in motion. He said it hurt the engine, as you could hear a slight reduction in engine noise when you flipped the switch. This was back in the 70s, and I don’t know if it was true or not of cars back then, but it always sounded bogus to me.

3

My mother refuses to leave her car in the driveway, even in the middle of summer. She always has to have it in the garage with the door closed. She also locks every single door even when she’s home. She lives in an very safe, family-friendly neighborhood.

She also turns up the thermostat to 80 degrees even in summer and never opens any windows. I practically die of heat stroke every time I’m there.

4

Never to buy loose penny sweeties that a Pakistani shopkeeper had handled. Only years afterwards did I understand why.

Never to talk about religion. I thought this was meant as a warning against discussing the existence or not of god. Only later did I realise it was a warning against sectarianism.

5

When catalytic converters were added to cars in the mid 70s they did, in fact, cause some fires when cars were parked over dry vegetation. So there was some worry here, I’ve not heard of any reports in a long time, though.

6

Time doesn’t matter. I remember hearing about some murders at Starved Rock State Park. My daughter doesn’t live terribly far from there, and I’ve told her the place gives me the creeps.

I also don’t like driving on I57 near Kankakee because of a man who pulled over cars and killed the occupants. I am always happy when I am past there.

So I finally decide to google the incidents.

The Starved Rock killings were in 1960. The I57 killings were in 1973.

I am the elderly relative causing her embarrassment. Luckily I only warn her of this kind of stuff in private, so maybe I’m not embarrassing her, but I think I will quit saying anything to her now.

7

My mother insists that any car that’s parked in the driveway has to be locked to discourage car thieves. But she has no problem with unlocked cars in the garage - which is also unlocked.

8

My grandfather told me to never order a steak rare, because then it would be served raw.

9

My grandmother was horrified when she heard my mother let me play outside when it was raining – she was convinced I was going to catch a cold.

My grandfather was convinced that doing crossword puzzles would prevent him from getting Alzheimers. “Keeps the brain sharp!” Okay, Pappap.

I would be concerned there, as the elderly are more at risk for heat stroke – is there any way you could persuade her not to do this?

Huh? What does that have to do with cars catching fire when they’re parked on the grass?

10

The connection is that these were concerns that once had a rational basis but are still be worried about long after the circumstances have changed.

11

Sorry, I was responding to the “long time” in that post.

12

If I get your drift rightly – surely, said shopkeeper would be scrupulous about using only their right hand for all doings with said sweeties?

13

Two from my mother who is in her late 80s.

When we used to go on vacation to France from the UK, we were never allowed to pet ant cats or dogs because they might have rabies. The UK is rabies free because we are an island with a strict quarantine policy, but in her mind that translated to Europe being swamped with rabies. It isn’t.

Also, we weren’t allowed to go into water for an hour after eating. I don’t mean just swimming, we weren’t even allowed to paddle or have a bath.

Oh, one more, on car journeys we were banned from eating chocolate and bananas, as she’d read somewhere that they cause travel sickness. When we stopped at service stations on route for food I used to wonder why they even bothered selling chocolate cakes because ‘no one is allowed to eat them’

14

My grandmother used to open the carton of eggs before putting them in her cart. Not too crazy in itself, I do that too so I don’t get cracked eggs. But she counted them every time- to make sure there were actually 12 eggs in the carton. Like it wouldn’t be obvious if one was missing.

15

My dad’s grandmother would make sure that there were plugs in all the electrical sockets before bed, so that the electricity wouldn’t leak out.

16

Oh, I’m sure it was just generalized racism of the “brown people touched that” kind.

17

Did she actually count them or did she just lift them up to make sure they weren’t cracked on the bottom? Because I do the latter. Found a few secretly cracked eggs that way, too. I’m only 34 so I don’t think I’m too crazy…yet.

18

No, she counted. You could see her mouth the numbers as she touched each one. You did NOT want to shop with her- every single item was examined very thoroughly.

19

Puzzles are very good for a mental work out. Especially as we age and no longer take college classes or get new training at our jobs. Its important to challenge ourselves every day. Take a college class for fun, learn a new hobby, work puzzles, anything that forces us to think creatively.

I started finding myself slipping 10 years after college. I gave myself a kick in the butt and pulled myself away from the tv.

20

Shortly before I turned 22, and was preparing to move to Florida from Ohio, my grandfather told me that the insurance company would not insure my car if I took it out of state to live while I still had a loan on it in the original state.

WTF, that made no sense, as people move across states all the time since there were states. All of a sudden, no insurance? Just to be sure, I called my insurance company and said, “Okay, please don’t laugh. My grandfather told me this and I think it’s total bullshit, but would you please confirm that you will continue to insure my car when I move?” With a perfectly straight face (well, I don’t know that – we were on the phone, there could have been a big eyeroll), the agent told me that, as long as I got a new policy in the state I was moving to, it didn’t matter where the loan originated from and whether or not it was paid off.

In short, my Grandfather was desperately making shit up because he did not want me to move. I have no idea what horrors he thought would befall me – I had a freshly printed college degree and would be moving in with a friend. And, as it turned out, I was gainfully employed within three days of moving. I still don’t know what he was concerned about because, if I went broke, I could just move back home again. I could get raped or murdered right there in my little hometown so I did not understand what the BFD was. He’s been dead for at least six years and I still have no clue.