JFF, Stories from Grandma

My grandpa sounds like your grandpa... at 86 he is still a flirt.

My grandma was always waiting on him to finish up talking to what ever girl of any age he was talking to. She would always shake her head with a smile on her face and say "oh Bob come on I'm the only one who still falls for that". When ever we would leave ( after he finished talking to them) he would always take grandma's hand and smile and say a little flirting never hurts anyone and hopefully it brightens their day.

One time my uncle was with us and as we were walking away he said to grandpa " Dad that is disrespectful to Mom to always flirt like that" ( His flirting was just talking to them or telling them this or that looks nice today ( their hair, shirt, smile, eyes whatever..) ) My grandma chirpped in and said " its not disrespectful, if they don't know me he always introduces me as his wife of XX years and if a little flirting can brighten someones day like he does mine every day then Im willing to share his silly words". Then grandpa said " besides grandma is the only one who falls for those silly words." They grabbed each others hand and smiled at each other and we kept walking.

What I took away from that is love and trust really does go farther than jealousy. Grandma passed away a couple of years after that happened. They had been married for 58 years.

My Grandpa is in his late 80s. Got married around 20 to my Grandma, who passed away 7 years ago. He now has multiple "lady friends" who all live in different towns and he will go visit them and has had lots of marriage proposals from them. He even has a ring from one of them that he will wear if he is with her. He gets all sorts of love notes in the mail. He has no interest in remarrying. He loved my Grandma with all his heart and she is his one and only, and his health is not very good anymore and he has no interest in combining households or anything, but I think it is cute and funny that he is trying his hand at "playing the field" after decades of being a loyal family man. I kindof feel bad for these ladies that don't know about each other though!

I will always remember my 84 year old grandmother (widowed nearly 25 years) telling me "Be choosy! You can find a loser any day of the week!"
She & my grandfather had a great marriage, she never re-married and always spoke of his like a prized possession. Good advice!

Now my MIL is still extremely (irrationally) jealous after 50 years of marriage, but I think it's the result of the stereotypical 'trapping a husband into marriage' due to a baby on the way! You think it's actually possible to doubt your husband's love for you after 50 years of marriage? How odd!