grandpa fred and me...
My mom is making her way through all her and my dad's files at home right now. She's organizing all of my dad's family papers and photos, scanning it all, adding my dad's memories along side photos, etcetera. A major undertaking if you ask me. I'm glad she's doing it though. Every couple of weeks she'll email a file with a note along the lines of "thought you'd like to see this," or "the debate about the red shoes and the frilly white socks is now over." She emailed me a note she found in one of her old day planners that I'd left for her warning of the impending dismemberment of my brother, Nolan, for some henious transgression against me. I laughed out loud when I saw that note. I wish, I WISH, I would have thought to pontificate on the transgression. What could it possibly have been?
Wednesday she sent me this picture she sketched of me and my Grandpa Fred. I must be three or four in the picture, circa 1978-79. I can almost say that I remember that moment, but in reality it's probably a memory of many different moments combined into one. My Grandpa Fred died nineteen years ago after a long battle with lung cancer. To this day, this very second, anytime I think about him or talk about him, I cannot help but well up and just bawl. It's almost involuntary. I miss him terribly. I wish with all my heart that my youngest brother and sister could have known him. I wish he could have been at my wedding or even just once met my husband. I wish my boys could have had the chance to curl up in his lap and smell his cologne and love him like I did.
My boys are lucky though, they have both sets of grandparents and my maternal grandparents still. They get the chance to know my Patsy Grandma and my Grandpa Don. I wonder if the boys will have the same impression of their Great Grandparents as I did growing up.
When I was little, my grandmother was the fanciest woman I knew. Her hair was and is always just right. She has an entire jewelry ensemble for every outfit she owns. Even in her housecoat and slippers, she is put together. Now that I am an adult, my grandmother is still one of the fanciest ladies I know and one of the funniest too. It's not that she's a joker or anything, but she's witty and can totally hold her own with all of her smart-assed grandchildren.
My grandpa iss a retired engineer by profession and a hobbyist carpenter and photographer too. As a child I always thought he was a carpenter and I thought that was the coolest. He built me stools, wooden block sets, and jewelry boxes. I remember watching him turn table legs (or something) on the lathe. Always out in his garage working on something or other. I don't think he gets out to the garage to woodwork as much these days, but you should see his computer set up...once an engineer, always an engineer. As an adult I appreciate Grandpa Don's dry sense of humor (a while back my sister, Katie, and I were down visiting after my grandmother had had some surgery. Grandpa was in the kitchen doing dishes, talking to Katie and in conversation says, "yes, Grandma's surgery went fine, only one little problem with some memory loss." We sort of hesitated and then he proceeded, "yes, she's forgotten how to do dishes." Holy cow did we laugh.) The two of them together are the sweetest couple you'll ever hope to know. I look forward to the day when Logan and Caleb will tell me their impressions of their grandparents and great grandparents. I guess that's a little presumptive of me, but I can hope can't I?
Wednesday she sent me this picture she sketched of me and my Grandpa Fred. I must be three or four in the picture, circa 1978-79. I can almost say that I remember that moment, but in reality it's probably a memory of many different moments combined into one. My Grandpa Fred died nineteen years ago after a long battle with lung cancer. To this day, this very second, anytime I think about him or talk about him, I cannot help but well up and just bawl. It's almost involuntary. I miss him terribly. I wish with all my heart that my youngest brother and sister could have known him. I wish he could have been at my wedding or even just once met my husband. I wish my boys could have had the chance to curl up in his lap and smell his cologne and love him like I did.My boys are lucky though, they have both sets of grandparents and my maternal grandparents still. They get the chance to know my Patsy Grandma and my Grandpa Don. I wonder if the boys will have the same impression of their Great Grandparents as I did growing up.
When I was little, my grandmother was the fanciest woman I knew. Her hair was and is always just right. She has an entire jewelry ensemble for every outfit she owns. Even in her housecoat and slippers, she is put together. Now that I am an adult, my grandmother is still one of the fanciest ladies I know and one of the funniest too. It's not that she's a joker or anything, but she's witty and can totally hold her own with all of her smart-assed grandchildren.
My grandpa iss a retired engineer by profession and a hobbyist carpenter and photographer too. As a child I always thought he was a carpenter and I thought that was the coolest. He built me stools, wooden block sets, and jewelry boxes. I remember watching him turn table legs (or something) on the lathe. Always out in his garage working on something or other. I don't think he gets out to the garage to woodwork as much these days, but you should see his computer set up...once an engineer, always an engineer. As an adult I appreciate Grandpa Don's dry sense of humor (a while back my sister, Katie, and I were down visiting after my grandmother had had some surgery. Grandpa was in the kitchen doing dishes, talking to Katie and in conversation says, "yes, Grandma's surgery went fine, only one little problem with some memory loss." We sort of hesitated and then he proceeded, "yes, she's forgotten how to do dishes." Holy cow did we laugh.) The two of them together are the sweetest couple you'll ever hope to know. I look forward to the day when Logan and Caleb will tell me their impressions of their grandparents and great grandparents. I guess that's a little presumptive of me, but I can hope can't I?
posted by Amy at 9:09 PM
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