Things That Make You go “Hmmmmmm”

When my brother visited me at Christmas, he of course brought his wife, but also brought two of his grandchildren. Ever since then, I have been pondering why, when your own children have children, you get to be called “Grand”, but when your sibling’s children have children, you can only be called “great”? Grand sounds so much more special than Great to me. Grand sounds wonderful, fabulous, extradorinary. Great sounds like, “meh, nothing special”.

Why is it that same person can be so good and special and wonderful and FAB gets to only be called “Grand” by those babies that come from the children you gave birth to. It just seems to me that the title of “Grand Aunt” would be better understood as well. How exactly do you explain to a young child how a relationship exists between the two of you, when the terms change just because you are the sister or brother of their grandfather or grandmother. I know I can’t be the only one wondering about this.

I remember several years ago when my granddaughter visited me when she was about seven years old. We were looking at some old pictures of my children when they were babies. I showed her a baby picture of her father, and she asked me why I had baby pictures of him. I explained to her that I was his mother.  “OH! Know I know why you are my grandmother!” It just suddenly clicked with her that a grandmother is the mother of your mother or father. So, it would just make sense to me that second generation aunt should be called GRAND as well, so that children would be better able to understand that if an older woman is the brother or sister of their grandmother or grandfather, then they would be a Grand Aunt or Grand Uncle.

So, what do you think? Does it make more sense for that relationship to be Grand, or only Great? Or am I just that crazy old Great Aunt?