I never knew my grandmother
in the way my mother had done
there was always a softer
benevolence towards me
than my mother had seen.
She kept the Bomboniere
filled with candy for kids,
and still I remember lifting
its lid as a peppermint
breeze filled me with glee.
My mother never received
such sweetness, but growing
older I feel, that most likely
she knew the position a
grandmother always will fill.
My grandmother’s mother
was probably strict with her
daughter, forcing the bourgeois
duties upon her, like the
porcelain painting I kept.
Today Sarah hosts dVerse Poetics with a prompt on Grandmothers and it made me think about how often grandmothers seem kinder to grandchildren than they ever were to their own kids.
January 24, 2022
Björn Rudbergs writings 
I think most grandmothers are softer towards their grandchildren than their children, Björn, especially when I was growing up. I have never known anyone with a bonboniere – our sweets were always in paper bags.
my grandmother grew up in a posh home, but she painted the bonbonniere herself… (and I learned what it was called)
Talented lady!
what a treasure –
What a gorgeous piece! I can attest being a grandmother is so different from being a mother.
That’s lovely that you have that bonbonniere.
I know my grandfathers were different with us than with my parents, and my husband’s father definitely mellowed as a grandfather.
Deliciously delivered, Bjorn. Thanks. My Gram was a fudge maker. Thank God my sister learned her recipe & I get Gram’s fudge every Christmas now, almost a century later.
Grandparents don’t have to worry about not bringing their grandchildren up right. It’s not their problem 🙂
Never knew a kind grandmother, but the image of one always appealed to me.
What a lovely thing that bonboniere is! I like that chain of mothers going back,each a little softer with age.
I have never heard of a bonboniere . Thank you so for widening me horizons. Grandparents get to indulge their grandchildren in ways parents must never do. Someone has to see that the young uns understand their bourgeois responsibilities
This really resonates with me, Bjorn. Mothers have to be stricter with their kids than Grandmas, as they are trying to raise good humans, and they worry. Grandmas, I am happy to report, just get to enjoy the kids. Much more fun!
How wonderful to remember her with such sweetness! And now I can add bonboniere to my vocabulary list! The perfect word for its perfect use. 🙂
Beautiful, Bjorn. Such bitter sweet words, thanks.
I’m glad your grandmother was kind to you. Imagining tiny hands lifting the lid of bonbonniere for the treats. Not sure if you were able to get your own sweets from it or not but you probably lifted that lid a million times in your mind.
Very sweet (no pun intended!)
~David
You are right about grandmothers being extra sweet to their grandkids. 🙂
Generation gaps…
luv that peppermint breeze. How lucky you are to have that keepsake candy jar.
much❤love
An insightful view into the different roles of mother and grandmother. I think that’s the situation in many families. (K)
Your grandmother’s bonbonniere (learnt a new word today) is an absolute treasure!! Can imagine a kid looking inside it for candy!
What a special treasure for holding sweet memories!
Weren’t our grandmothers wonderful!! Mine both were, I saw the one I wrote of a lot more than my maternal grandmother–even so she was an angel in my book as well. All grannies should have “Bomboniere
filled with candy (and cookies) for kids”. Plus ice cream in the freezer.
Nice write, Bjorn,
..
” about how often grandmothers seem kinder to grandchildren than they ever were to their own kids. ”
I think this happens a lot. It’s just the way they REDEEM themselves: for being so strict with their own kids. hehe.
Your poem is delightful. That “the bonbonniere my grandmother painted. and always kept filled with peppermint candy for her grandchildren” Wow!! Sentimental. Love knowing this. Blessing you. xoxo
I like the way you describe how inherited objects bring their owner to life for us and, in many ways, define their character.
sweet treasured memory. So beautiful! ❣️