Who is the weirdest old person that you know?

Anon 1256,

Geeeeez! Talk about a person not having a filter! That man had absolutely NO filter, right?

The weirdest old person that I ever met was my great grandmother's husband. He made a comment to my great aunt once that he never been on the (Birth control) pill and he would ride his bike over to the car dealership to talk cars (more like driving them nuts) with the salesmen. One day, My great grandma fell and broke her hip outside. She managed to crawl onto the driveway. Her husband called the ambulance and we all met her at the hospital. Her husband said "I knew there was something wrong because she normally doesn't lay down in the driveway." He checked out my mother's car once and asked if her SOU-LIN-DEAR (cylinder) was working okay (That is how he pronounced it). One day my mother bought a sticky back clock for her car because her old car clock was no longer working; He saw this and said that he had to have some. My mom gave him the address. The next visit, he showed mom where put all of the clocks (on the toilet, in the cars, the speaker for the tv, you name it, he put it there). He tried to explain to me once why him and Great grandma didn't have sex anymore (I was 9 years old)--My mother stopped that conservation. He was also the most dangerous, too. I found out from my family that he tried to hit my great grandma in front of my great aunt. My great aunt decided that great grandma was going to live with her, until a place in a nursing home opened up. She died after six months in the nursing home. He tried to get all of the money that great grandma had in different bank accounts in the area; His lawyer said that it was illegal for him to collect because in the will, my great grandma left the money to my great aunt and my mother.

He was such a weird, creepy, not very bright, dangerous man.

She *appeared* to be helpless. Old, hunch-backed, cane, enormous thick-lensed glasses. People just went with it. Or, after being sat upon, they'd somehow escape to another seat.

Riders "in the know" took preventive precautions.

Seemed she only "needed" to sit on somebody once. Clearly, it was a ritual.

Bizarre? Yes. Also, unique. In my experience, anyway.

Confounded,

That is just crazy. I can’t imagine having someone sit on me. Just bizarre. What do the people do? How do they react to her odd behavior?

I felt sorrier for the old woman - the first time. Seatmate didn't deserve what he got, but he was young, and appeared healthy.

But the second, third, fourth (and so on) times? NOPE. Not after she kept passing up empty seats. Plus, if her seatmates tried to give her space, she'd scoot after them until she hit her target.

Don't even want to think about what she was like in her youth.

Oh my gosh! Hahaha, I can’t imagine someone sitting on me while riding a bus! I don’t know who I feel sorry for more, the old lady or the other passenger.

I have a funny pubic service bus ride. My husband and I were riding the bus. We were not seniors! We were in our twenties at the time.

The bus had a blow out but it sounded like a freakin gun shot! I took off running, didn’t look back. I guess I was maybe two blocks ahead of my husband.

All of a sudden I remembered my husband and turned around looking for him. Poor guy was standing in the crowd outside the bus looking for me. Hahaha. The bus driver had instructed them to get off the bus.

I walked back to meet him. He just looked at me and shook his head. He said, “Well, I guess you weren’t concerned about me in the least.” I told him that wasn’t true and it was just a quick reflex action.

Can't say I really knew this woman well. Her ... quirks? ... may not have been age-related, per se.

Back when I used to ride buses to work, all of the regular riders would groan when they saw her at the stop. She had a ... bus-boarding ritual ... I guess you could call it.

Her back was very much hunched. It was the first thing you saw as the bus' step lifted her up. Next came a tiny brimmed hat, curly iron-gray hair, and a round little face with huge, round, think-lensed glasses, peering suspiciously at all of the riders with her greatly magnified eyes.

Once on board, the ritual began. She NEVER had bus fare. Drivers always let her ride, anyway. (Understandable, for any attempted removal would likely not have gone well.)

Business completed, she would make her way slowly to the first seat occupied by a single rider - no matter how far back she had to go - passing up all of the empty seats.

Once she chose her seat, she'd sloooowly shift herself into a sitting position. And then? She'd sit on the passenger.

Every. Single. Time. Even if her seatmate-to-be tried to duck or scoot over.

I always sat waaayyy in the back. Just in case.

Metoo,

I call it free entertainment!

Geeeez, gallstones! Hahaha Well, I remember my doctor asking me if I wanted to keep my tonsils after they were removed. As a 12 year old girl my response was, “Ewwww! No!”

If she’s like my deceased oldest brother who was an addict as well her brain is a bit skewed from the drugs.

My brother was very interesting. In some ways he was extremely smart, even owned his own business.

Other times he justified crazy stuff, know what I mean? Stuff that would leave you scratching your head.

These people that do the drugs today, meth and crack have totally fried brains! They aren’t like the people who smoked pot in their youth.

I think we all have our eccentricities...and those will be the things, for better or worse, we are remembered for.

If nothing else, it makes for interesting dinner conversation!

We still talk about my MIL saving her dead dog's gallstones!

My sister, a recovered (recovering?) alcohol/drug addict promises that when she turns 80, she is going get some fun Mr. Magoo glasses and give meth and heroin a go. She wonders what those drugs are like and thinks, "Who cares if I get addicted at 80?" I can see her logic after decades of sobriety but not sure if I agree with her. She's always been the "Hippy Dippy" in the family :)

maybe its ME , and all them other psychos are the normal ones .
* perplexed *

CM,

You’re right. I am amazed that so many people believe in the caul thing. It is rare to be born with a caul. My poor friend has had a lot to deal with her eccentric mother.

The veil thing does have a respectable (ish!) tradition to it - it's called a caul, and it happens when the amniotic sac wraps itself over the baby during its birth. All kinds of magical powers (not all bad, either) were attributed to infants born like this, and I think it's a fairly widespread belief.

I'm sure some of us will get there and we'll think we are just fine. People will be giving us the side eye and shaking their heads. As long as the bat sht crazy people are happy I guess. (oh, and not hurting anyone)

my grandpa on my moms side was pretty nuts . he would continue with his ( pointless / endless ) story telling even after the last person had exited the room .

he drove my dad nuts with his , actually , very existence .
ive oft surmised that i hope grandpa has my dad cornered somewhere in heaven telling him the story that will ( literally ) never end .

I've said it before and I'll say it again: too often the general public sees someone in their twilight years and thinks "sweet little old man or woman" but everybody grows old - addicts, thieves, abusers, hookers, the mentally ill and the mentally challenged...
I can't say I've ever known anyone who was bat sh!t crazy but my father's side of the family was definitely quirky🤔

My MIL is quirky, but no way in a "fun way'.

She carries grudges to the point you don't even have to listen to her repeat the same ones over and over--after 44 years of knowing her, I could recite any one of a number of her grudges verbatim--in fact, I have done so to my DH who just laughs because I am so spot on--and it takes away the pain he has over being the source of a lot of the grudges away for a moment.

She can remember every single hurt, slight, unkind comment that happened to her over her 90 years. It's almost a gift, if she were funny or could remember the happy times, but she doesn't--just the nasty stuff.

She TRULY thinks she has suffered more than any other human being on earth. I'm not kidding. She said her doctor told her this. WTH?

Truly, it's sad. I had a very quirky grandma and we simply adored her to pieces. I think I might be the quirky grandma--I don't know. I certainly know what I DON'T want to be!

That’s true. My friend’s mom has always been this way, even when she was young!

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I know a young woman that's quite eccentric. She would tell me her stories of how she got in trouble. Etc.

Send,

I know. I just left my friend’s house and I am baffled by her mom’s behavior. I really am. Was just wondering if others knew people like her. I don’t mean it as making fun of old people in general. Really I don’t.

NHWM, (Edited)
It is great to want to lighten the caregiver's load with humor. I know you do not mean harm to anyone.
Love, Send