i stopped by my grandparents house to visit on tuesday which happened to be election night. they were set up with peanut m&ms, popcorn, rootbeer, chips, all for watching the results. and they were SO excited.

now my grandfather fell down the stairs about 2 months ago and broke his pelvis and collar bone. he spent almost a month in an assisted living center doing physical therapy etc. so when i saw him up and walking around i told him that he looked great. he responded, "i'm still not doing too well." then leaned in and whispered with a smile, "i'm trying to avoid the obnoxious tasks!"

my grandmother tends to boss him around, "father get this, father do that, etc." well we watched the elections for about 10 minutes when my grandmother brought out a king size quilt (she makes one for each of her grandchildren when they get married...she has over 75). she sets it on the table and then says, "father, come take out the basting stitches." he slowly gets up out of his lazy boy, sits down at the table and begins to slowly pull out threads with a sewing pin.

i come over and help and we talk about my family, etc. at one point i can tell he is frustrated with this menial task and yells out, "i bet stan doesn't have to pull out basting stitches!!!" (stan is my dad and his son).

my grandmother ignores the statement and says, "we can eat dinner as soon as you're done pulling out your basting stitches" (her pronoun selection is fantastic).

my grandfather continues to make comments every 5 minutes or so:

"i didn't sign up for this slave labor!"

"why couldn't you have done the stitches in red so someone can actually see them!"

after she makes another comment on his holding up dinner, "we could eat on the floor like indigenous people!"

my grandfather's comments are in good fun...he typically looks at me with a sly grin on his face afterwards. one of my favorites of the night however was about the musical number my grandmother is planning.

she has invited all of her children and grandchildren to sing a musical number at her church the day after christmas. there will be a harp, 2 cellos, 3 violins and a flute. she has burned the music divided up into parts on cd, organized practice times which start this weekend, etc. so it is quite the production. well, as i'm obligingly listening to the cd and singing along with my grandmother (she has turned off the election results for the time being) my grandfather says,

"i think you should just play the cd instead. tell all the grandkids to mouth the words. no one will know the difference. in fact it will probably sound better!"

again i turn around to see him chuckling and smiling as if to congratulate himself on what a good joke.

my grandmother and grandfather are quite the pair.