Memory Monday

My Gramps. My Dad adopted me when I was 5 but long before he adopted me his Mom (Grandma Eleanor) and his Dad (Gramps George) treated me like one of their own. They both gave me a million memories. My Grandparents divorced when I was 7 maybe? I don't know, we moved in with my Grandma when I was in 3rd grade. Anyway, my Gramps bought a trailer and lived in the nicest trailer park just down the road. I could walk there when I was 11, and when I got my drivers license one of my first "errands" was to water his plants when he was out-of-town. He bought me my '57 chevy barbie car. I loved that thing. Every Christmas he made me a Folgers size can of homemade chex mix. It was always gone by Dec. 26th (I think this is why I love making it from scratch for my kiddos...memories). When I was 13 a big huge bumble bee got in the house. I locked myself in my room and called him crying to come kill it. He did. When there was a massive snow storm and my parents could not get home he picked me up at daycare and kept me overnight, that was the night my foot found his missing sewing needle (owch!). He loved Clan Mcgregor Scotch and when I was old enough to buy it I would get him a bottle for his birthday. He was rough around the edges but had a great heart. I still miss him so much. He used to take me out to a ranch his friend owned, I collected fossils. He took me to the nature preserve to find birds, he loved to bird watch. He gave me a book of birds and I spent hours looking at it. He took me on a road trip to Nebraska when I was, gosh, 11 or 12 to visit family. We had the best time, breaking the trip into 2 days both ways. It was fun to stay in a hotel and go swimming. He never, ever forgot a birthday. Not mine and not my kids. He had a calendar in his house with birthdays written on it. He had a stash of "naughty" magazines in his bathroom, lol. He drove me to tutoring when I was having problems in math. He was always there. He was this permanent, solid, comforting, wonderful part of my life. He passed away a month before Reese, in June of '06. I am immensely grateful that I got to see him one last time, even though he was so close to death, it was still so important to have a little bit of time at the end to say goodbye.

I love you Gramps. Thank-you for the memories.