i love my grandparents

my grandparents are awesome. they are going to 95 this year & still live in the house they bought before my mother was born. they've been a huge influence on my life - my liberal views certainly didn't come from my father. i don't talk to them on the phone very often, but i write them letters about twice a month (my grandfather seems to think the postal service is superior the the telephone) and try to visit at least once a year. one of my favorite visits was this past december. although i had told them Boy & I were coming, they had forgotten. their normal housekeeper had some emergency that day so when Boy & I showed up that afternoon, my grandmother was convinced that our mom had sent us to "rescue them" - ie, cook them supper. i don't think she ever realized that it had all be planned months in advance.

i just had lunch with my grandfather during which we discussed various tropical fruits, the effect of fish oil on his loosened sphincter muscles, & taenia cases (a parasite found in beef & pork - as we ate roast beef & salami). i love talking to my grandfather about health stuff, because he knows so much about diseases that aren't really issues these days. he was a doctor on St.Croix during the 1940s for the Public Health Service and saw some interesting things. last time i was here he busted out his pictures from the leper colony he oversaw & pictures of his patients with lymphatic filariasis (the elephant-man disease). they were disgustingly awesome.

my grandfather is also very socially conscious. when i was a kid, we were always getting things from organizations such as the WWF (world wildlife fund) and UNICEF from them. yesterday i went through his desk drawer & made a list of organizations in which he holds a current membership card:

ACLU
Americans United for Separation of Church & State
People for the American Way
Southern Poverty Law Center
The Concord Coalition
International Rescue Committee
Techno Serve (a micro-finance group)
American Medical Association
Physicians for Social Responsibility
Drug Policy Alliance (which supports, among other things, the legalization of medicinal marijuana)
Oxfam
2 different public TV stations (PBS stuff)
League of Conservation Voters
National Wildlife Federation
Rainforest Alliance
American Rivers
Earth Justice
Nature Conservancy
Defenders of Wildlife
Sierra Club
Cornell Plantations

(if you are still wondering where i get my eco-friendly leanings, note the 9 eco-centered groups above...)