Stories from Grandparents: Recent Episodes
Stories from Grandparents
Welcome to Stories from Grandparents! This podcast is a series of conversations, stories and lessons shared about and from grandparents. No one can spill the tea quite like grandmas, and for many of us, sharing a cup of tea at our grandmother’s kitchen table is the most comfortable place in the world. That's the experience this podcast aims to create. The stories can be heartwarming, funny, sad or all of the above, depending on the grandparents!
Hosted by Robin MacEwan and Stephanie Poirier, based out of Ottawa Ontario, this podcast is recorded with Ottawa Popup Podcasting. If you are interested in interviewing your grandparent for the podcast, or sharing stories about your own grandparents, please be in touch at storiesfromgrandparentspodcast@gmail.com. We can set up telephone interviews for those who do not live in the area, or you can write in your stories via email, and we can read them on the podcast.
Click here for our Press Kit!Podcast Art by Jillian Maracle @jandb_xo and Jessica Nantel @bombaypainco
Welcome to the Season 2 Finale! Greg, host of The Cool Grandpa Podcast, joins us to talk about the unique role grandfathers can play in the lives of their grandkids, with just a bit of intentionality. We get into stories about the impact his grandfather had in his life, and the impact he hopes to create as a grandparent. He’s a very cool grandpa indeed!
Listener Stories: This season we had some listeners email some stories, so we put them together in an episode! If you have an interesting story to share about your grandparent, please email us at storiesfromgrandparentspodcast@gmail.com. We’d love to hear it!
When you have multiple identities, how do you find connection to your culture or heritage? For Sam, it meant embarking on an epic journey to India to find his grandfather’s home, with nothing but a faded photograph and vague family memories to guide him.
Ever hear of a grandma getting kicked out of a WWE wrestling match? What about one who is an ‘unknowing’ weed dealer? Well this episode has the grandparents for you! Join us as Mick, host of the Mick’s Picks podcast, tells all of his hilarious, heartwarming grandparent stories. Mick is the host of the Mickpix Podcast --check it out for literally any sports knowledge. It's fantastic!
As listeners know, we’re always looking for different types of grandparent stories because not everyone has heartwarming, positive relationships with their families. Lauren gave us stories of family dysfunction, where her battleax grandmother was often at the center.
Anna, host of the podcast Heart-to-Heart with Anna, joined us from Texas! Her grandmother sounds like she was a character! She instilled values of standing up for oneself and the importance of education. She fled an abusive relationship in the 1940s –an incredibly difficult thing for a young woman to do in that era. Anna was able to channel the wisdom and strength her grandmother passed onto her during a parallel situation in her own life.
Jason’s grandfather was a lover of horses and horse racing. Jason took the opportunity to interview him on tape before he died, so our listeners will get to hear pieces of their conversation. It’s a heartwarming special treat! Turns out the qualities that make someone good with horses, also make them good at being a grandparent.
This season we were in search of grandparent stories that weren't so positive, just to balance out all the happy, heartwarming stories. Josh delivered! He comes from a Mennonite family in rural Manitoba. We learn a bit about the Mennonite religion and culture, as well as his family’s difficult relationship with his maternal grandmother, who struggled with mental illness.
The stories in this episode take us further back in time than we’re used to on this podcast. Our guest, Mary, talks about her grandmothers, whose husbands left them behind in Italy while they traveled to the Americas in search of building better lives for their families. However, they were gone for 30 years, often with little or no communication, leaving their wives to raise their large families on their own. Often referred to as the White Widows, this was a common experience of Southern Italian women in the 1920s and 1930s. The strength, resourcefulness, and undying love these women had is unparalleled.
Robert didn’t know his grandfather that well, but was always puzzled by the leg injury he had. Did it happen during a WWII battle? Did he fall down a flight of stairs? After his death, Robert sought answers to how his grandpa hurt his leg so badly, and to who he was as a person during his young life.
Sonia Lewis is an author and anti-racism advocate who joined us from California. She discussed her role as a grandparent figure in her family, and shared how an early life experience as a young girl in the 1970s propelled her into anti-racism work. This experience is also the premise of her new book, Monsters and Aliens, which is meant for both children and adults. Interspersed is advice on how to have tough convos about race and discrimination with family members, particularly an older generation.
Welcome to Season 2 of Stories from Grandparents! In this episode Madison interviews her amazing grandmother, G about her various adventures. G is probably the most badass grandmother we'll ever have on the show. She went skydiving for her 80th and 90th birthdays, worked as a Medevac nurse in the Canadian Arctic, and has travelled all around the world. As you'll hear, she never let her busy life get in the way of family.
Four-year-old Raegan asks her Grandma, Sue, all sorts of questions, while Robin and Sue discuss how parenthood has changed throughout her lifetime. This episode reminds us why grandparenthood is so special!
Having lived through hardships such war and the Great Depression, our grandparents come from a time when saving and using everything you had was necessary for survival. This episode touches on the importance of not wasting anything.
This episode is a very special one. Our guest, Talisa, is one of Robin's best friends, and inspirations for the podcast. She was raised by her old-school Italian grandparents in their hometown of Quesnel, BC. Having grandparents as parents is a unique experience --both in terms of hilarious generational gaps, but also loss of parent-figures at a young age.
In this episode you’ll hear stories from the other side! Here’s a collection of tales involving the ghosts and the supernatural.
A retired English teacher and a writer, Barry reads a story he wrote about his Scottish grandmother chastising his childhood bullies. He also touches on a theme that comes up often in this podcast: grandparents creating a feeling of safety, and a soft place to land.
It’s no surprise that stories of resilience came out again and again during our interviews. This collection of stories all happen to involve strong women, who became badass grandmas!
Initially, we had planned to include Paul in our love stories episode, but when we re-listened to his interview, we decided he needed his own! His grandmother loved telling the story of how his grandfather proposed. He retells this story, and explains how their love survived distance, time, illness, and even death. Get your tissues ready and enjoy!
A major theme that arose during our interviews were stories of immigration, settlement and displacement. A common thread through all of the stories though, was the idea of leaving (or fleeing) to find a better life in another land.
This is another epic tale that comes straight from a grandfather’s memoir. Jenna tells of her grandad’s adventurous life as a teenager between 1936 and 1939. You’ll hear thrilling, and heartfelt coming of age stories, that include crossing oceans, jumping trains, and stowing away on ships. The memoir ends ominously, at the start of WWII. Bookending these tales of course, are stories of what Jenna’s grandfather meant to her, and taught her about life.
In this episode you’ll hear love stories from generations past, which show the different types of commitment that develop over time. These stories from grandparents show us that love can not only survive over time, but through mental illness, dementia, and tragedy.
Mary’s grandmother was her caregiver for much of her childhood in Ecuador. She recounts the special relationship she had with her, and the caretaking role switch that occurred when her grandmother started aging, eventually developing dementia.
Legends are stories that are passed down through generations. Often they’re epic, and hard to believe. As you can imagine, a myriad of family legends arose during our interviews. Sometimes the stories are legendary, and sometimes the grandparents themselves are the legends.
This is one of our favourite episodes! Natasha and Wei Sim (cousins) interview their grandmother, Bernice, about her top 5 values. She explains how her values developed through her life story, which started with her parents immigrating to Canada from China. This interview is heartfelt, funny, and has everything you crave about a good convo with your grandma.
Our first guest, Chris, was one of the inspirations for the podcast! Originally from Newfoundland, he tells stories with his Newfie charm, and gives us a sense of what life was like for his grandparents, who had great impacts within their rural communities.
Welcome to Stories from Grandparents! This podcast is a series of conversations, stories, and lessons shared about and from grandparents. Join hosts Robin MacEwan and Stephanie Poirier as they sit down with grandparents and grandchildren for some good ol' fashioned tea sipping and tea spilling. You'll hear family legends, heroic adventures, stories of survival, and even some romance. Don't forget to subscribe rate and review Stories from Grandparents on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts!