Anyone else grew up without grandparents?
I read that quite a few people in this sub have older parents. So who also did grow up without grandparents? The parents from my father's side were already old when I was born. I don't remember much about my grandpa, just that I didn't understand him for some reason and that he was always grumpy. I was even kind of scared of him. My mom told me later on that he had dementia. I didn't even realise when he died. I was only 3 (almost 4). My grandma died about one and a half years later, I just remember that she didn't talk much and seemed very serious. I was at her house quite often, but I didn't talk much with her and I mainly just ate some food and watched TV. My mother's father was already long dead when I was born and her mother unfortunately already died when I was 7. She wasn't as old as my grandparents from my father's side, but she already died in her 70s. I honestly didn't have a strong bond to her either. She was in a wheelchair and my mother and I visited her sometimes, but that was actually it. When she died, I didn't recognise what this would mean for me. I was just empathetic for my mother and my aunts, because I knew it must be hard to lose your mom. It wasn't until I was like 9 years old, until I realized, what it actually means not to have grandparents. When I saw other kids having bonds with their grandma and grandpa, I started feeling really bad. I was especially jealous of kids who had young grandparents that would travel with them, be happy and loving towards them. I never had that, even when my grandparents were still alive. Nowadays grandparents are always represented in media and you will feel like the weird odd one out, if you don't get spoiled emotionally and materially by your grandparents. It just sucks. Now that I'm 29, I really feel that I missed out on a lot.