19 Grandparents Who Are Forever Young at Heart

Getting older is just the continuation of more fun and adventures. The grandparents below are living proof of that. Thanks to these lively, unforgettable family members who know how to keep things interesting, their children and grandchildren have a treasure trove of stories just sitting on the tips of their tongues.

• I’m a young mum, and during the summer, I stay in my grandfather’s village. He’s 88 years old. One morning, he planned to take the train to the city. My son and I slept in and only woke up around 10 a.m. The house was completely quiet and the front door was locked from the inside with a heavy iron bolt. But Grandpa was gone. I couldn’t even remember seeing him off. That evening, when he returned, I asked, “Grandpa, how did you get out? The door was locked from the inside.”
  He replies, “I went out through the window so as not to wake you up, granddaughter.” © Overheard / Ideer
• Granny’s a big believer in “dangerous fighting dogs” because of TV and newspapers. And we have a rescued Pittie. We didn’t tell her, so as not to worry her, we live in another country.
  And then Grandma needed medical treatment and came over to us. We said the dog was rescued, that’s all. His ears are not cropped, his tail was broken in the kennel — it curls upwards, so he looks funny and dorky.
  As a result, the whole month, the dog followed grandma everywhere, begging for meat scraps from her cutlets. She covered him with a blanket because he was freezing! She never realized what breed he was. © Overheard / Ideer

• We had a big library at home, and my grandmother was always trying to get me to read. I read a lot in my life, but I never considered myself a bookworm, I liked watching movies more. But I listened to my grandmother.
  One day I read one book and liked it very much, I wanted to discuss the book with my grandmother. But it turned out she hadn’t read it. Then I read another book — just the one she recommended — and she hadn’t read it either.
  Later it turned out that Grandma hadn’t read a single book from our library, she just wanted to keep me busy. © Caramel / VK
• My grandfather went to the country house for a couple of weeks, so Granny asked me to renovate their room. I bought red laminate flooring, painted the walls pine green, hung a portrait of a writer in a golden frame. Beautiful!
  And then Grandpa comes back. We blindfolded him to surprise him. We took off the blindfold, and he said, “Oh, my! So, I’ve been away only for 2 weeks, and you’ve already hung a portrait of another man?” © Work Stories / VK
• My grandmother printed a YouTube video. It was a promo video from my uncle’s architecture firm talking about one of their projects. She did maybe 100 frames or so... made a little flip book: no special software, just screenshots, scissors, and patience. © gorkish / Reddit

• I grew up just a few houses away from my grandma. My 2 sisters and I spent lots of time at grandma’s house. She had a great sense of humor and loved cracking jokes. When we would leave her house to go home we’d say, “Bye, Grandma!” and she’d always reply, “Good riddance!” I never knew what that meant. She was Irish and I always thought it was an Irish expression meaning good luck or best wishes, something like that. I didn’t figure it out for many years! Of course she was just kidding... or was she? © Nearby_Bar_5605 / Reddit
• My grandpa told my 2 Irish cousins that his name was “Albert” while he was visiting them for the first time. Keep in mind that my cousins were very young, and so had been calling him Albert for the entire week. One day, the whole family was going out somewhere, and one of my cousins talks to my grandma.
  “Is Albert coming with us?”
  “Albert? Who’s Albert?”
  “He’s your husband!”
  “My husband’s name is Ron!”
  When my Grandpa gets in the car, Grandma asks him if he told my cousins to call him Albert, upon saying yes she asked why the hell he told them that. All he said was, “I don’t know, that’s the first thing I thought of.” © dandaman64 / Reddit
• Grandma told me this story. One day, Grandpa woke up in the morning and went out to take out the garbage. Outside, he was met by his friends, who were just about to go to the sea. They had one free place.
  Grandpa thought about it for a second, then hid the bucket behind the door and drove off. For a week, Grandma went crazy wondering why he had disappeared. And Grandpa came back a week later, took the bucket, came home and shouted, “Lily, I’ve taken out the garbage!” © Chamber 6 / VK

• Yesterday after work, I went to congratulate my grandmother with her 65th birthday. I arrived right in the middle of the party. She and her friends were discussing which sea they would go to this year, what outfits they would take with them, how they would party there.
  And at the end of the evening, my grandmother and her friend were making splits on a bet. I looked at all this and realized how boring my life is at 24. © Work Stories / VK
• Grandfather sometimes withdrew some cash from his account and hid it. When he was gone, we couldn’t find the money. Then one day my grandmother threw away some of his things.
  That same evening we found a note, “Dear, my stash is under the cushion of my chair. Don’t cry for me, go to a resort.” And his favorite chair was already in the dump.
  The family pooled some money together and gave it to Grandma so she could go to the sea. But still it was a bit sad. © Overheard / VK
• I will always remember leaving all four wheels off the ground as my grandmother was popping over hills. She was such a great cook too with my mom asking her for tips when she was just married. Still remember my grandparents grabbing a smooch when they thought no one was looking. Every time we were over, it was chaos, with the house filled with people. They had a huge farm with lots of exploring to do. The barn was also filled with farm inventions that my grandfather came up with. © Past-Apartment-8455 / Reddit

• No one in our family had a musical ear, it was like we were all tone-deaf from birth! But my grandmother loved to sing, even though she was terrible at it. She pinned her hopes on me, that’s why she sent me to music school at the age of 6.
  At the audition, the teachers delicately said something like, “Maybe she’d better go to foreign language classes?” The parents understood everything, but the grandmother didn’t give up that quickly. She rushed into the principal’s office and started singing, proving that her granddaughter was just as good a singer as herself.
  The principal thought it would be easier to agree and enrolled me in the percussion class, where I stayed for 6 months. Then I switched to a foreign language course. © Chamber 6 / VK
• It’s the Christmas of 2009 in Romania. My grandpa excitedly comes in bringing a bunch of these candy apples. My sister takes a bit over the coating, she goes yum, another bite and she starts nauseating. The smell of onion fills the room. She still won’t let him live that one down. © Easy_Dig_88 / Reddit
• I was at my grandmother’s place. We’re sitting, talking about this and that, and then my grandmother starts telling me about her first love. I swear, I’ve been convinced all my life that my grandfather was her first and only man.
  I couldn’t think of anything else. But then suddenly I realize she’s talking about some stranger. I had to interrupt her a little and clarify whether it was not my grandfather who was her first boyfriend.
  My grandmother looked at me like I was a fool and said, “Of course not! Why would I spend my life on one man? You have to know everyone, and then marry the calmest one. It’s more interesting that way.” It seems there’s still a lot I don’t know about this woman. © Caramel / VK

• Grandpa is a big fan of collecting very old things. And it’s not antiques, but usually some rubbish. So, he found a newspaper from the 1900s. While traveling home in the tram, he decided to look at it.
  Suddenly, he noticed out of the corner of his eye that a woman next to him looked interested. She looked at the newspaper and then at him, perplexed. Grandfather was not confused. He took on a puzzled look and asked, “What year is it?” © Overheard / VK
• My Grandpa absolutely hated green beans. He used to ask Grandma not to can so many, but she never listened. Still, he dutifully carried each jar to the basement. He passed away in July 2000, and we just celebrated what would’ve been his 100th birthday—I still miss him. Grandma passed in March 2011.
  While cleaning out the basement, which had become a bit of a family storage area, we kept finding random jars of green beans tucked away. Eventually, we uncovered crates of them hidden under shelves. There were about six of us working, and by the end, we had found around 2,000 jars. We stood there, staring at this mountain of jars in the middle of the room, confused about why there were so many. Then I started giggling. My Aunt asked why, and I said, “Grandpa did this.” She asked how I knew, and I replied, “Because he hated green beans!” That sent everyone into laughter.
  The jars were distributed among the family-Grandma and Grandpa’s five children and their 11 grandchildren. © Buffy0943 / Reddit
• Grandma had a difficult life. She had to go to work at the age of 13. She worked as a seamstress, a shop assistant, a police officer, a cleaner. And in the end, she became a test driver and found herself in this profession.
  To this day she works in this field and knows a lot about cars. She and my mom were arguing one day, and my mom was indignant, saying, “All people have normal moms, but I have a chauffeur mom!” And Grandma says to her, “I am not a chauffeur! I’m a test driver! Beep-beep, darling!” © Work Stories / VK

• Grandpa had a neighbor he particularly didn’t like. He’d get so irritated everytime he came to borrow another thing he’d ’forget’ to return on time. So once, Grandpa asked Grandma to bake a pie for him and when her back was turned, Grandpa slipped a generous pinch of salt into the filling. When Liam came to borrow a lightbulb, Grandpa offered him the pie too. A few minutes later, we saw Liam approaching our house like a man on a mission. He held a salt shaker from his own kitchen, wagging it like an accusation. ’This was sabotage!’ he bellowed. Grandpa didn’t even look up. ’You’re welcome,’ he said. ’You can keep that too.’“
• Buying something small at a kiosk. The old lady — the seller — gives me too much change. I point out the mistake and receive a lot of thanks. A month later, I come to the kiosk again.
  Suddenly, the lady grabs my hand and yells, “There he is!” I freak out. And then this old lady comes out of the kiosk and leads a very beautiful girl by the hand. She introduces us.
  As it turned out later, she was looking for a worthy husband for her granddaughter. For a fortnight, she made her sit in the kiosk in ambush. That’s how I met my future wife. © ***Yaguara / Pikabu

In a world where family bonds often fray under the weight of time and distance, here are grandparents that are holding their families heartstrings.