When Grandparents "Come out"

My grandparents are in town. They live in Wasilla, Alaska and try to get around to their realtives at least one time a year. Now that they are in their 80's it is harder on them then it use to be. As my grandmother says they, "came out" before the holidays because it is cheaper.

I asked the little sawed-off 4' 10" preacher's daughter what she meant by saying her and grandpa "came out". I then said I hope you have not read my blog the last couple of days because you're going to be pissed. With my rambling and her diminished hearing she fastly became confused. "Grandma are you trying to tell us that you and grandpa are, "coming out"?

"No", she said. "We already came out".

"Does my mom know about it?" I asked knowing she is wondering what her smart aleck grandson is up to.

"Of course she knows we came out. She knew before anyone did, because she picked us up at the airport." Shaking her head. "Herb I told you to stay out of those candies." she barked at my grandfather.

"Does anyone else know you came out?" I asked leading her down my the road of total confusion.

"Yes! my mother knows and my sisters and my brother knows" she assured me.

"Its a good thing Great-Grandpa has died already or this would have killed him." I said as I gave her a hug.

She sat back down and kept looking at me like I had completely lost it. Shaking her head and telling Mrs. Pirate she was worried about me and occasionally telling grandpa to get out of this or that as he hunted around the house for candy.

When my brother came in I whispered just loud enough to him so grandma could hear that grandma and grandpa were gay.

She shot across the room and asked what I had just said.

"I was telling Kevin that you and grandpa had announced to your daughter, mother and siblings that you two were gay," keeping a straight face I played it a little longer. "I for one support you and have no problem with it at all."

"We're not gay, if you mean that we're homosexuals." she told the two of us completely in a state of confusion.

"So you're not happy about it?" I asked.

"What are you talking about? Of course I'm happy" she laughed.

"About coming out?" I attempted affirmation.

"What are you talking about, you?" she asked as she began to pinch my cheek.

"You said you both came out and I wanted you to know I love you regardless of how God made you." I told her with a big Pirate smile on my self.

"I love you too. You made me a grandmother."

**A note to all that may be confused. Those who have lived in the interior of Alaska before it became a state always say the "came out" whenever they come to the states.

What is funny about this is I do this to her every time and she still hasn't figured out what I'm doing but she is getting better at keeping grandpa out of the candy dish. Over the last ten years he has developed dimintia and spends his whole day looking for candy or anything elde he can chew on. I believe this may be a blessing for him because the man fought on four islands during WWII the last one being Okinawa. The simple man from Paradise, California has a lot of things to remember and they can't all be good. He never spoke much of the Pacific tour but I know it wasn't pretty. He once showed me a handful of pictures he had taken in Okinawa. Seeing Japanese men stacked up like cords of wood and the destruction people can be a lot to carry around. So if he spends the last years of his life sneaking around looking for candy and avoiding the commands from my grandmother who recently "came out" I think its a blessing.