Now that I’m finally going to have my first Grandchild, since Eric and Sarah are expecting their first baby in October.. (even saying that gives me chills and makes me want to cry...and I‘ve been on a cloud since I found out)....I started to think about what I want to be called. ‘Grandma’ is probably the easiest, but do I really want to be called ‘Grandma’?
There’s a lot to consider here, since this is what I will always be to all of my Grandchildren. I was never much of a fan of ‘Nana’, and my apologies to those of you who are called Nana, but it reminds me of ’Nanny’ way too much. I could go the Italian route and choose ‘Nonni’, but that just doesn’t seem like a good fit, maybe because I’m not Italian. Of course, there’s always the Polish version, ‘Babcia’ (pronounced ‘bop-cha’) is Fathers mother, and ‘Busha’ (pronounced ‘boo-sha’) is mothers mother……I guess that would make me Babcia...but that steers me to a black dress and babushka...not exactly where I want to go.
If I were to choose the international ‘grandma’...maybe German, ‘Oma’...or Dutch, ‘Grootmoeder’...or perhaps Spanish, ‘Abuela’ or Portuguese, Avó. The French Grandma sounds rather beautiful, ‘Grand Mere’...and there’s something nice about Grandma in Slovenia, ‘Babica’. Oh, I don’t know, “Abuela, play with me…Grootmoeder, read me a story”….. just doesn’t do it for me.
There’s a lot to consider here, since this is what I will always be to all of my Grandchildren. I was never much of a fan of ‘Nana’, and my apologies to those of you who are called Nana, but it reminds me of ’Nanny’ way too much. I could go the Italian route and choose ‘Nonni’, but that just doesn’t seem like a good fit, maybe because I’m not Italian. Of course, there’s always the Polish version, ‘Babcia’ (pronounced ‘bop-cha’) is Fathers mother, and ‘Busha’ (pronounced ‘boo-sha’) is mothers mother……I guess that would make me Babcia...but that steers me to a black dress and babushka...not exactly where I want to go.
If I were to choose the international ‘grandma’...maybe German, ‘Oma’...or Dutch, ‘Grootmoeder’...or perhaps Spanish, ‘Abuela’ or Portuguese, Avó. The French Grandma sounds rather beautiful, ‘Grand Mere’...and there’s something nice about Grandma in Slovenia, ‘Babica’. Oh, I don’t know, “Abuela, play with me…Grootmoeder, read me a story”….. just doesn’t do it for me.
I guess ‘Grandma Kancar’ would work, but that is my husbands Mom to all of us. But, when my boys were little, in order to distinguish their two grandma's, they called my mom, 'Grandma with the Big Hair', and Jerry's mom, 'Smokey's Grandma' (she had a basset hound named Smokey)! Those were names that they chose, and of course as they got older that changed to Grandma Kancar and Grandma Bielat.
What about ‘Grandma K’ or even ‘Grandma Carole’? Now that would be good, except that Sarah’s Mom is also Carol and that could get confusing. She already has two grandsons that call her grandma.
My son Todd’s Mother-in-law told me that when they have children, she wants to be called ‘Mimi’, so that’s out. There’s always ‘Grand Mother’ or ‘Grand Mummy’...uh, way too formal!!...and I’m not the Queen!! One version I rather like is ‘Grandmom’ sounds more modern. There's always 'Gram', 'Grams', or even 'Grammy'...way too cutsie for me. What about 'Granny'..yeah, right! That's a bit too 'Beverly Hillbillies'!!!
I've been thinking about this a lot and something that I did come up with that I really like is 'Gia'....I love the sound of it.
Anyway, I have a few months to decide on a perfect fit. Regardless of what I’ll be called, this is a dream come true for me and I’m absolutely thrilled!!!! So for now, just call me ‘Grandma’!!!!!!
