Why your Grandparents never seem to “Understand”

Why do old people never get excited when they hear your incredible news?  I can’t remember how many times I’ve delivered a whopping piece of personal information on my grandma only to get a sustained confused look throughout me telling her, followed by a slightly patronizing smile, followed by, “that’s nice, do you want me to make you some pasta?”

“No, grandma!  I just told you that I got that new job downtown that I was really stressing out about the last 2 weeks!  Isn’t that awesome??”

“Yea.  That’s good.  What kind of pasta do you want me to make for you?”

As I was eating my spaghetti and meatballs with meat sauce (undoubtedly the best homemade pasta combo possible)… I started thinking why old people don’t really get that excited about your excitement.  There’s a few possibilities I came up with. 

One.  Look, they’ve been around a while, they’ve seen a lot more then you have, this isn’t there first barbeque.  For as excited as you are in the moment, and as big an event you think this is in your life, they know there’s so much more ahead of you and that you shouldn’t be “getting yourself so worked up over this”.

Two. Your grandma doesn’t see you everyday.  When you’re at her house, it’s grandma time.  Not “you” time.  Eat her pasta.  Have seconds.  Tell her it was amazing.  And ask her something about last night’s Wheel of Fortune.  She’ll love having the chance to tell you all about how much money the contestants won.

Three.  Old people may just literally not understand some of the details to my stories and truly not “get it” the way I assume they do. For instance,  I need to stop assuming my grandma understands Facebook, or texting, or why getting an MBA is probably a good idea for me a few years down the road.  This is all insignificant noise to her.  She just wants me to be happy.  That’s why she made me my favorite pasta…

I guess I learned a lot during my meal at my grandma’s that day.  I’m still not positive why she never seems to care that much about all the “important” details in my life.  But I think I learned a little bit more about her that day.  And maybe that’s all that matters…