The first photo is my favorite because I love that my Grandpa was smart, that he wore a overcoat and hat and that he was a positive example of a good man. He was a man of conviction and worth, of faith and strength. He IS the original Swoon for me.
He was the kind of Grandpa that made you feel like he loved you more than the rest-and he made each of his grand kids feel that way.
He was cool because he had a wooden leg. Yeah-I know! Isn't that COOL! How many kids can go to school and tell their friends that their grandpa has a wooden leg?
His car was all fixed up so that he could still drive even though he had a wooden leg-how many kids could drive in their Grandpa's car and see the AMAZING, out of this world, special pimped out knobs because he was THAT COOL?
He always had a pocket full of caramels for us kids.
One late summer night I was running around the neighborhood with my shirt off (I was a tomboy and my best friend was a boy so I went through a phase where I wanted to be a boy and therefore ran around with my shirt off like my best friend did... I think I was 4.) Anyway, this summer night had a bit of a chill in the air and I ran past my Grandpa who was sitting on a lawn chair and he grabbed me and wrapped his strong warm arms around me and said "Aren't you cold without a shirt?" I remember how warm and cozy his arms were-the perfect hug.
His house had the best Grandpa smell you could ever imagine. I loved it-
He always had Town House crackers for snacks.
He had stacks of National Geographic Magazines in his living room.
I still have Spaghetti on Wednesday nights because when I was a kid my Grandpa rotated having dinner at each of his 4 children's homes-we had Wednesday night and my mom made him spaghetti. It is a habit that I will never tire of because of him.
I miss him.
I loved him so~
20 comments:
Those are awesome memories. I miss my grandpas, too.
This may have been the best swoon ever...
Great post! Thanks for sharing a completely swoon worthy swoon with us. Grandpas are the BEST!
awesome . . . nothing beats a misty swoon.
i want to make a comment about you running around topless both then and now. but it is monday and my brain doesn't work. shucks.
Thank you for sharing such personal memories of an obviously wonderfully memorable man.
And I think it was one of my sisters that said to a visitor to our home, "my dad is smart, he went to college". I love those memories.
And the day, when we were on vacation at the lake, I fell out of the front of the rowboat while tying it up to the dock. Dad laughed so hard he brought that "wooden leg" up to his chin".
For days whenever we looked at each other we would laugh for another 15 minues. I'll never forget that day that I gave my dad a good laugh.
Thanks for the post...he was a special man. And you are a special neice.
Love,
Aunt Barbara
June,
You make my day with your memories of my DAD. He was a great man in my eyes too. I remember one time he had a Play Boy magazine under his chair and Mom (your grandma) found it. There was hell to pay for him that day. The only time he had that book. He was special and I was so glad that I could spend his last days are our home. He was a man that if he said something, you better pay attention and he still loved you anyway. He used to set on the stairs to the second story house with me when I would have a nightmare until it settled down and went back to bed. Thanks for loving my DAD too.
Love you.
Aunt Judi
It looks like the design people on "Mad Men" took notes on coolness from your Grandpa.
Thanks for this -- made my day!!
June,
Uncle Harold says that I am more like my Dad than by Mom. I think it is a good place to be. I would hope that I have some of Mom also. I think she had a great whit that she share with Uncle Chuck and myself.
Love ya.
Aunt Judi
Heartwarming SWOON ... just perfect every now and then!
Awww, what wonderful memories. Thank you for sharing. Thoughts of my grandfather bring back warm memories as well...
Thanks for the late night warm, fuzzy smile.
Michele
My granddaddy was the best ever, too. He was such a gentle man, so loving, always a smile and a pack of wintergreen Lifesavers for each of us girls. It wasn't until I was an adult and he'd been dead for nearly 20 years that something clicked and I asked Mom if he'd been an alcoholic. I don't know why that occurred to me, but I was right. He bought those Lifesavers by the box to hide the smell of alcohol. To this day, Mom can't stand wintergreen, and it's my favorite mint.
But that didn't make any difference to me. I thought he was cool because he took his teeth out when he read the newspaper. He was cool because he let me sit on his lap when I was two or three and "drive" the car (did he ever catch hell for that. I was too young to know there are some things you just don't share with mommy.)
He'd play the harmonica and sing mournful songs, songs that made me cry because they were so beautiful.
He died seven weeks before my daughter was born. I wish she could have known him (given, especially, that he was such a better granddaddy than either of hers are/were). He'd spent most of my lifetime in the hospital with one illness or the other caused by alcohol abuse and smoking like a chimney and working at a powder plant (whatever the hell that was, but evidentally there was a lot of particulate matter).
Thanks for bringing him back to mind. He's been gone for almost 38 years and I miss him so much.
P.S. Please don't let my daddy know that I said he isn't a good grandfather to my kids, especially my daughter. He hates her. Long story. But even when she was little, he wasn't a granddaddy.
What a beautiful tribute to your grandfather. I hope my grandchildren will have fond memories of me as well.
Never knew either one of my grandfathers. One died before I was even born, the other, a hobo that had at least 2 other families to support.
But, my Daddy has been the GREATEST Papaw EVER!! Oh- yes, he still has his "Archie chair" and hogs the remote, but he loves his grandkids. I'm so proud of him, even though, he never had any sort of a role model to "go on".
His Daddy was NOT there (the hobo). He was put into the orphan's home w/ his 5 other siblings, b/c my Memaw could not take care of them. To this day, he says that's the best thing that happened to him.
He didn't graduate High school. Never got past the 8th grade. But, he taught himself Calculus, and how to play the guitar. His mind... is always seeking. That's my Daddy-- always seeking knowledge. Wisdom?? anyone? "T"
Very nice June...Awesome Grandpas are...AWESOME!
Loved this, thanks for sharing it.
June - this brought big crocodile tears to my eyes; thank you so much for posting. I too adored my grandpa and after all these years still miss him like crazy. There's just something missing in this world now that he's not in it.
Good post cousin.
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