Sierra 5: Throwing Pots

[OldFadedStar]

I was fortunate enough to have all four grandparents until I was 28. I lost my grandpa in November 2018 and have lost two other grandparents since then... one was just a few weeks ago. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

7 hours ago, indianabones said:

Her two eldest were enrolled at a private Christian school originally, before they pulled them out. I got the feeling that it was money related. I doubt they would send their kids to school again unless that's changed.

If she starts making money with her pots she might be able to send the oldest ones in a few years. It would do her a lot of good. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

On 7/31/2021 at 12:07 AM, indianabones said:

There was an episode of Unexpected where they did a "five generations" photo. Everyone in it except for the babies had been a TV parent. Pretty mind-blowing TV for someone who's grandparents had all passed away before they became an adult.

My family loved doing those pictures with my sister. Our great grandparents were alive when my sister had her two kids. They were married 75 years before my great grandma died. My great grandpa went on to live to be 100. He died almost exactly one year before my oldest son was born. It would have been nice to get a five generations picture with him. 

[JordynDarby5]

My great-grandmother died when I was seven, my maternal grandmother when I was nine and my paternal grandmother when I was ten. It messed me up for a long time. I have memories of them but wish I had more memories of them. I still really miss them. Especially my paternal grandmother since we lived in different states I didn't get to see her that much.  My maternal grandmother died before I was born so I never knew him. My brother was two when he died. He's in a picture with Granddad and our two cousins. My paternal grandfather lived until I was twenty but he had Alzheimers after my grandmother died (or possibly before but we didn't notice because we were all focused on her). But my great-grandfather lived until I was in my mid twenties. I really liked him. We had often had talks. Usually about history, religion, or stories about our family. He was one of the coolest people I've ever known.  

[HereticHick]

On 7/30/2021 at 9:34 PM, Jana814 said:

That is wild to me also. I have a few friends that still have grandparents & we are 40 plus years old. I haven’t had any grandparents since I was 12. 

Same.  Lost my last grandparent when I was 25; Mr. Possum lost his last grandparent when he was about 35. I frankly cringe when I see those "5 generations photos" in my hometown paper, because it usually involves teen motherhood somewhere in the line.

[justmy2cents]

Yes @HereticHick. My g-g-grandomother was 88 when my sister was born. All the women on that line including my mom got married 16-18 yo and that's how we got to 5 generations alive at the same time. I had my only at 43 so we're back on track for generations per century. I'll be lucky to see a grandchild one day but I bet it won't go beyond that, which is perfectly fine.

[JermajestyDuggar]

10 hours ago, HereticHick said:

Same.  Lost my last grandparent when I was 25; Mr. Possum lost his last grandparent when he was about 35. I frankly cringe when I see those "5 generations photos" in my hometown paper, because it usually involves teen motherhood somewhere in the line.

Surprisingly, none of my parents, grandparents, or great grandparents were teen moms/dads. They were all early 20s moms and dads with longevity running in my family. 

[Nothing if not critical]

My MIL just turned 70 - she had her kids in her late teens and early twenties and could never understand why I waited until I was 34. Anyway, she's already pestering my kids that she wants to have great-grandchildren - and my girls are 12 and 15!!! I keep telling her I'd rather avoid teen pregnancies...

Edited August 3, 2021 by Nothing if not critical

[mango_fandango]

1 hour ago, Nothing if not critical said:

My MIL just turned 70 - she had her kids in her late teens and early twenties and could never understand why I waited until I was 34. Anyway, she's already pestering my kids that she wants to have great-grandchildren - and my girls are 12 and 15!!! I keep telling her I'd rather avoid teen pregnancies...

Yikes! 12 and 15 is too young. Actually, having a relative pestering you to have kids is annoying at whatever age.

My paternal grandmother died when I was 7, then my paternal grandfather died when I was 17. My maternal grandparents are still around, they’re in their mid-80s. 

[Melissa1977]

I recently lost my grandma. She was 90, I was 44. She didn't lived far, so we had a close-knit relationship until the end.

I had my 4 grandparents until I was 24 years old. My maternal grandparents lived enough to be great-grandparents. 

In short, so many memories! I'm almost in tears writing that.

[BensAllergies]

I can imagine my kids knowing 2nd great grandparents but it would have been a stretch. I come from generations of being the oldest, and my dad’s grandma was 43 when he was born. However, he was 25 when I was born and she “only” lived to be age 90, when I was 22 and recently married but with no child until age 26. For her to meet my kid, my dad and I would have needed to be even younger than mid-20s when becoming parents, or she would have needed to stay alive another 5-10 years. Both would have been needed to get to Sierra’s situation of her great-grandma being around for the births of several kids. So I can imagine it but it’s still a long stretch.

It’s also possible to have a close relationship with second spouses of the (great) grandparent. On my mom’s side, my grandpa’s second wife is much younger than him, and while he is long gone she will be around for another 20 years. She goes by her first name instead of the grandma title but is still a very much loved member of the family. 

[Marly]

I have never known my maternal grandmother and my paternal grandfather.
My mom was born when my grandma was in her 40s, and she died when my mom was 19. My mom had me (I'm the oldest of 3) at 26. I did know my maternal grandfather and I have many great and fond memories of him. He passed away aged 89, when I was 19. 
My paternal grandfather had also passed away before I was born. My paternal grandmother passed away 3 years ago, also at 89. 

My grandmother never had greatgrandchildren, nor did she see any of her grandkids get married. I am a bit sad about that, but I am very happy that I've had her in my life for as long as I did.
My grandfather did have a bunch of greatgrandchildren, because my mom's sister, who is 16 years older than my mom, had her first child at 18 (and then had two sets of Irish twins), and her children had their children young too (not teen parents though, they were early twenties).

 

[JermajestyDuggar]

1 hour ago, Melissa1977 said:

I recently lost my grandma. She was 90, I was 44. She didn't lived far, so we had a close-knit relationship until the end.

I had my 4 grandparents until I was 24 years old. My maternal grandparents lived enough to be great-grandparents. 

In short, so many memories! I'm almost in tears writing that.

I only have one grandparent left and it makes me sad. The other 3 died in the last 8 years. The grandma I have left is 87. Her dad lived to be 100 so who knows how long she will live. Hopefully a long time. 

[HideousGreenShirt]

One of my grandparents is still alive. My dad's dad. He is a horrible person and has expressed no interest in getting to know my sister or me. He actually sent back her graduation photo with a letter saying "why would you think this would be of interest to me? Give it to someone who cares." That was around 17 years back - I haven't wanted to make an effort with him since. 

His ex wife/my dad's mom died a few years ago. She was one of the most despicable, hateful people I have ever met. She treated my mom horribly and took every chance she got to be a total b!tch to me. She did some truly immoral, atrocious things to people I care about.  

I tried with her, but there's only so many times you can be told to your face that you are garbage, before you realise it's not worth it. And then to hear all the lies she told her friends about how close we were and how I was her favourite. My earliest memory of her, was her physically taking my ice cream cone from me when I was three while my parents went to get the car. She ate it and laughed at me. That's probably the nicest she ever treated me. 

My other grandparents (now gone) were in another country and I met them twice in my life. We didn't speak the same language, there was some stuff that my mom is not comfortable talking about and I never had the chance to get close to them.

So I basically grew up with no grandparents and it makes me sad.

My parents' first neighbours were an elderly couple who were very loving to my sister and I. We would see them every month or so and they were the sweetest people. I consider them to be my true grandparents and I was, in contrast, very sad when they both passed. 

[OHFL2009]

Because my paternal grandparents married young, my dad is the oldest, and my dad was youngish when I was born, whereas my maternal grandparents married later and my mom is the youngest, and my mom is several years older than my dad, my parents are kind of in different generations. My paternal great-grandmother and my maternal grandfather were born only a few months apart. 

I would likely have known my great-grandparents on my paternal grandmother's side if they hadn't both died tragically young. They would have been 81 and 64 when I was born, but my great-grandfather died (I think of cancer) when my grandmother was 6, and my great-grandmother died in a car accident when my grandmother was 10. So if my great-grandmother had lived to her 80s, and I had had kids in my early 20s, a 5-generation photo would've been possible with the only teen pregnancy being my grandmother having my dad just shy of her 20th birthday. 

 

[NotQuiteMotY]

We have one four-generation photo of my family, my paternal grandfather with all his children, all but one grandchild, and all of his great-grandchildren at that point (he has four more now, five including a step, with another on the way). We had almost everyone at my wedding and took advantage of it. He's my only surviving grandparent now, and the only great-grandparent my kids may even remotely remember; the only other one alive when Eldest was born, my husband's grandmother, passed when he was not quite a year.

All of my great-grandparents passed before I was born. I think part of it is that my family, especially on my mom's side, has long generations, given that my grandmother, my mom, and I all had our first in our thirties. So not really a chance of a five-generation photo here.

[Not that josh's mom]

All of my great grandparents were gone many many years before i was born.. My maternal grandfather died long before I was born, but my maternal grandmother died when I was 12. She was 83. Paternal grandfather died when I was 20 and paternal grandmother died when I was 35. When my son was a baby I took him to see the paternal grandmother, but of course he doesn't remember. My parents were 30 and  34 when I was born, and that was 7 years after my sister was born. The oldest of her children kind of remember those great grands. My paternal grandparents lived a few hours away, so the only times I saw them was family reunions, so very little one on one times. Wish I'd had that. 

[Sullie06]

I'm 38 years old. I have one Grandparent still alive, my Grandmother is 91. She's the youngest of 8 and all of her siblings lived into at least their late 90s. My great aunt died last year at 103. My maternal grandparents died with I was young, my grandfather when I was 2 and my grandmother when I was 17, but they were much older when my Mom was born. My Mom is the youngest of 5 and my grandmother and grandfather were 40 and 50 when she was born. 

My husband still has 2 of his Grandparents, that side of his family genetically live a long time. His great grandmother passed in 2013 at age 99, he was 29.

[theotherelise]

I had two great grandmas alive when I was born and they each died when I was 9-10. I'm in my early thirties and have three grandparents alive. The one couple is in their 90s and have been married for over 70 years. My other grandma is in her 80s. She had my mom (her second) when she was 19.

My 15 month old has not met any of these great grandparents yet even though we're only a couple hours away. It will be one more sad part of our current times if any of them pass before we can safely visit. But I had a cousin on each side who was a teen mom in the same year, so the oldest great grandchildren are 20. 

[front hugs > duggs]

I'm 31 and I never had any grandfathers. I lost my closest grandma when I was 22, my mom when I was 26, and my last remaining grandparent earlier this year due to Covid. My in-laws are in another country, so even my potential kids won't have a whole lot to work with either.

[TuringMachine]

I'm about to be 30, I only have my one grandmother on my mom's side now. I never met my dad's parents, and he never met his dad's parents. Between him, his dad, and his grandfather he's the first to have a kid before 40, having my brother at 38.

[HereticHick]

How long do you think it will be before all of Sierra's fanbase has already purchased an overpriced, mediocre piece of pottery from her?

[SassyPants]

I was thinking that we had a 5 generation photo when my granddaughter was born, but now I see that it was only 4 generations. My mom’s mom had my mom, her first child to survive, at 27 (my grandpa was 39). My mom was the only “young” mother at 21. My daughter was 27 and I was 28 when we had our first babies. My grandmother died young. She had rheumatic fever as a child. I lost both of my remaining grandparents within a month’s time when I was pregnant with my first. 

[JMO]

So speaking of overdue for a pregnancy announcement... Sierra has a toddler, a blossoming side gig and is visibly happy with her 7 kids, it's time for #8 to upset that apple cart. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

2 minutes ago, JMO said:

So speaking of overdue for a pregnancy announcement... Sierra has a toddler, a blossoming side gig and is visibly happy with her 7 kids, it's time for #8 to upset that apple cart. 

I truly hope she has come to some sort of realization about her family size. I really hope she won’t announce anytime soon. She needs a break from the baby making. It might provide a little bit of clarity in her life.