What are/were your grandparents like?

I always laugh when I see grandparents on TV that bake pies, babysit and go to church.   I had the most unorthodox grandparents imaginable. My Grandmother Bonnie was a beauty, and she was a talented artist. She could paint, act and dance. She ran away from home with dreams of becoming an actress. She was a Rockette in NYC, and she definitely never had any dreams of becoming a mother, wife or grandmother. She met my Grandpa Jack, and he owned a bar known as the Wonder Bar in Monticello, New York. While no one ever came right out and said it, there was always a suggestion that Grandpa Jack had a shady mobster connection. While Jack and Bonnie certainly didn't have the credentials to become parents, they did. There were stories of screaming fights, cheating spouses and eventually a nasty divorce.

My grandfather died young in a car accident, and my grandmother remarried, and moved to Florida. She danced in local shows and she was still beautiful in her eighties. She was never a warm and fuzzy grandmother; her distance being a result of a difficult childhood. One warm memory that I do have is when Grandma Bonnie invited me to her house and promised me that we were going to bake some muffins. Coming from a family of great cooks, I was excited to share a day baking with my grandmother.  I remember standing eagerly in the kitchen, ready to crack eggs and soften butter.  I also recall my disappointment when my grandmother reached up into the cupboard and pulled out a box of Jiffy corn muffins. While I did inherit some of Grandma Bonnie's coldness, thank goodness I didn't get her poor cooking gene.