They were both in their early 80s and had been together long enough they decided to move in together.
She had 5 huge framed paintings (prints) that no longer had walls to hang upon, and she wanted me to have them. All 5 of them.
Gigantic shitty prints with ostentatious gold-painted frames, featuring rose vases and fruit baskets and the like.
I think we are all familiar with this kind of “old lady” art. It was popular among the same clientele who would purchase ugly mass produced china to keep and not use. Basically department store rubbish of their day.
It was completely okay that she offered them to me.
It was not fine that she would not take “no thank you” for an answer and kept on pressing.
It was not fine when she would not accept my answers of “I do not like them” and “I do not want them” and “they are ugly” and “if you insist on giving them away, give them to a thrift store”.
It didn’t feel particularly pleasant to me when she acted as though she was doing me a great favor, and insinuated I was being ungrateful by not appreciating their inherent value.
Finally I cracked and said okay I will take one of the paintings, may I have that big rose painting at the front?
Yes.
It becomes my property, you won’t ask for it back?
Yes it’s yours!
I picked up the painting and out the front door I went. I leaned the painting up against the elm tree on the boulevard at a 45 degree angle and proceeded to kick a hole right in the center.
I went back and said do you still want to give me those other paintings?
Later that week when I was taking gramps out for lunch he told me that it was one of the funniest things ever, and he completely agreed that it was the right thing to do given how absurd her insistence had gotten. He also said he was made to suffer for my actions though lol - although he really did not lay any blame at my feet, he let the punishment roll off his back like he always did, good guy!
I would of course never behave that way now that I’m an older man. I would just more insistently say that I’m not going to take them under any circumstances.
I was inspired to tell this story based on something I read in another thread. People were delighted to tell their mom they’re just going to throw her china in the garbage and relating how mom was freaking out, and they were relishing it!
My wife would 100% get upset if one of our kids said they would do away with our china. Some of it she got from her mom. Some of it she got from her grandma.
We’ve dragged this heavy shit though at least a half dozen houses and we’ve used it approximately that many times. But I get it. It’s not the china, it’s the connection between one generation and the next.
In some ways, this stupid shit we leave behind is all we have to mark our existence and that of the people we loved growing up. That continuity gives us some peace. We want to know we will be thought of when the china comes out, or when you write on that ugly old desk. Because the day no one thinks of us again is the day we truly die.
So, in my wife’s case, threatening to throw that shit away is not just throwing her away, but her mother and grandmother as well. Me, I’ve taken up woodworking in the hopes that some day I’ll be skilled enough to make a couple things worthy of keeping so my kids can feel that sense of connection to me after I’m gone, though really my kids are my legacy to the world.
I know that shit is impractical, and I understand that our kids might well throw it in the garbage after we are gone (or just after we are beyond the point of asking why you didn’t use it for our grandchild’s baby shower or whatever). Christ, my grandpa gave my folks bear claw ashtrays and they didn’t even smoke. Those were tacky as fuck. But I should hope our kids would have the grace to get rid of it discretely as a simple kindness. One hopes it’s easier to just drive that shit to Goodwill than needlessly inflict pain on someone confronting their own mortality.
I don’t intend this as an admonishment. It’s weird (and perhaps sad) that she tried to give pictures to someone she isn’t really connected to. Your grandfather’s reaction tells me all I need to know about that. I was more having empathy toward the subject of your last paragraph. Handling situations with grace and empathy doesn’t require a lot of extra effort, though it doesn’t make for internet hilarity.
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