The Grandparent Misplacement

Tonight I called my grandparents for the first time in almost a year.

Yeah, sometimes I kind of suck.

To be fair, they live in South Carolina, and I haven't seen them in maybe two years. We do our best, but they live far away, and can be....somewhat racist eccentric. Let's just say they've been known to throw around words that tiny old ladies in oversized spectacles with surprisingly loud voices should probably keep to themselves.They're a little on the crazy side, and have high expectations of their children and grandchildren.  They also ignored my then-fiance for about an hour and a half the first (and only) time he met them. They also keep 4 foot tall bottles of vodka under the sink.

I sh*t you not.

I love them, but I have some guilt. Their 60th wedding anniversary is coming up in a few weeks, and we were all invited. It would be a good chance to see family we haven't seen in awhile (there are some aunts and uncles I haven't seen since I was like 12), but with my nonexistant limited vacation time, plus the idea of traveling with a newborn.....long story short we aren't going.

And I feel awful.

My husband's grandparents are the epitome of what you would expect grandparents to be. Patient, loving, and just completely overjoyed to see you whenever you walk through the door.

I adore them. I miss his paternal grandparents as much as I miss my own. His mother's parents are just so sweet and I love visiting them. I truly love them as if they were my own.

Which is part of where the guilt comes in. We're hoping to visit SC in the fall, and I hope Anna gets a chance to meet my grandparents (crazy or not). It's hard for them to visit us, even though most of us are from New England. Family is so important to us, and though they are different, and I love them differently than I do my husband's grandparents, love is love is love.