When Damien, my first grandchild, came into my life almost ten years ago, I started thinking about what I wanted for my nom de grand. (After all, I have a nom de plume, so I was okay with the concept.)
I'd never really liked the Grandma+ First Name solution, even though it had worked for my kids and their dear grandparents (all gone now, sadly). Blame it on being a Baby Boomer (why not; we get blamed for everything else), but I wanted something a bit more . . . individualized.
And I didn't like Nana-- I could recall my mother's nose wrinkling when she heard that word, and hear her saying "A nanny is someone you PAY to take care of your children," and unlike most of what she tried to teach me, that STUCK. No Nanna, Nonna, Bubbie, or Ya-Ya for me.
And no baby-talk, either. "Gamma?" What is THAT! A form of radiation? No thanks.
It was in the works of one of my favorite authors, Sue Townsend, that I found inspiration. Pauline Mole, working-class feminist, boiler-suit wearing adulteress, and mother of the most hilarious anti-hero ever, Adrian Mole, came up with the perfect moniker when she wanted to hear herself called "Grannie Paulie." And so I followed suit, and when Damien began to talk, I pointed to myself and said, "Grannie Hellie." That stuck, too.
Some women of my generation dislike the word "grannie," associating it with toothlessness and the flight of youth's sweet bird. Hel-lo, if you're old enough to have a grandchild, your childhood is OVER! Wake up and smell the Lipitor! Have you received your free gift from AARP yet? Well, surprise, surprise-- you are old!
What do YOU like to be called? Are you a "trad gran," or a "glam gran," or a "hipster gran," or a "kooky gran," like the one in Nobody Else's Grannie? Whatever, your grandkids probably think there's Nobody Else like YOU.
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@rita, well, I had a nervous breakdown, had to postpone a wedding, went into a mentalhospital for a week, then, two months later, had a stroke! But I'm lots better now, and so glad you remember me! Big love, Helen
a little older now, we are grandmaMA and GRANDboy and the GRANDboy laughed hysterically, the last time he was down and an advertisement came on the tv for something, I don't remember what-but I thought the robot in the ad was also, grandmaMa.
"Oh look! GRANDboy another grandmaMA!!"
"No, no, no grandMAAAA, she's Grandma-BOT! But I can call you Grandma-BOT if you want me, too"
Take care to stay better.