Great-Grandma

I didn't really know what a GREAT-grandma was until I was 4 or 5. I thought it was a grandma (and I knew what that was) who was great, or really good at her job. I had three grandmas, two who I loved as much as I loved my mother and one who scared me, so I assumed that I had two great-grandmas and one regular-grandma. I didn't have any great-grandpas, and that wasn't really all that surprising as both of my grandpas were pretty good, but in different ways, but neither were perfect.

So, in my little kid logic, I started calling my Grandma Thornton "Great-Great-Grandma" because she was just perfect at being a Grandma and I thought she was some better than my other grandma who I always called Great-Grandma (Stricklin). Distinguishing between who was good, great and really great was very important.

I remember Grandma T figuring out what I was doing and laughing and then explaining that to me, she was just a grandma and that Grandma S was a Great-Grandma because she was my other grandma's mother. I remember the light-bulb and understanding what she was saying, but also knowing that I couldn't put her in the same category as my other grandma (Morris). So, while it was important to me, I called Grandma S "great-grandma" (and I continued that until she died), Grandma T "sweet grandma" and Grandma M just plain old "grandma."