Today I am feeling nostalgic over my grandfather. He is 93 and had some big changes in this 94th year that he has lived since June. He wrote a book and had it published. It has all of his adventures and stories wrapped up in the pages and there are even a few pages of pictures, and I am so proud of the book.
He has been my one constant male figure in my life.
He has been bald for as long as I can remember. In the past few years he has even had me trim the few scragglers that sprout! My girls ask me why I say "he's so cute" often times once we have dropped him off, and all I can say is "well, he is!" He has shrunk a few inches over time, and he tells me that he is "Just tired." lately. He has had to have me start to accompany him to the doctor so that information gets relayed correctly. He finally gave up his truck back in June because he had had some fainting spells. He blessed Stephanie and Olivia with the money from the sale of the truck for their braces, and he takes the bus to Walmart for shopping and we pick him up weekly for church. Big changes.
Most days he likes his scheduled events. Ping Pong, water volleyball, yoga, but some days just the long walk down his hallway and down the elevators is too much. He has always been a man who liked a plan. When I moved in with them as a young teen, I knew it was a weekly trip to town, besides church! Meals were always on time and so was bedtime!
He likes telling stories, but always waits to be asked. He is a great listener and is very compassionate, but not like one nowadays would think. He is a survivor of The Great Depression, World War II, and believes in hard work. Handouts do not come often, and even allowance was earned through hard work. I got a job if I wanted a car or anything extra, but I was taken care of.
He has been an example of hard work, great plans, future dreams,and overcoming heartache, disappointment, but filled with endurance and prosperity. I remember when we built on a second story to the house when Todd and I moved in after my mother's death. He could have required more of us, but I think he wanted us to be kids even in our grief. He had traveled thousands of miles in his life in his adventures, and I think some of that was passed down to me! He has had dreams. Homesteading in Alaska, providing for his family so they were never in want, living in the Bahamas and finally settling in Florida. He lost his daughter when she was a young mother of four in her early thirties and became a "father" to two teenagers in his sixties. He has lost big investments in the financial world but has always overcome. And in the past six years since my grandmother's passing I have gotten to see a man who understands the value of outwardly serving God. He had for all my life quietly served Him via my grandmother's efforts and passion.
I love him. I often wonder what life will be without him. He is that rock that is a comfort in the storms of life. He loves and is so proud of having Steve as a grandson-in-law and he adores his greatgrands, Stephanie and Olivia to his core. He is not a perfect man, but who is? He is a brother to ten others, most gone already, but is still proud to be a sibling tosuch honorable people.
When I read Psalm 139:1-18 I imagine my dear grandfather reading it and finding such peace in his life, just as King David did..."all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."
No comments:
Post a Comment