G.K. Chesterton: “Exactly what does breed insanity is reason. Poets do not go mad; but chess-players do. Mathematicians go mad, and cashiers; but creative artists very seldom. I am not, as will be seen, in any sense attacking logic: I only say that this danger does lie in logic, not in imagination.” (Orthodoxy)

Monday, November 14, 2011

Grandpa

So much has been going on that I haven't had a moment to {stop. think. reflect.} in the past couple of weeks. But I had an overwhelming desire to blog on my commute home this evening...and here I find myself. My life has been turned upside down recently. I had to say good bye to my beloved grandpa this month. He was 82 and was diagnosed (for the 2nd time) with cancer about a month ago. We all knew it was coming and I've been preparing myself and my heart the phone call. I even got to go home a few weeks before and spend an entire afternoon with him, we watched football, talked about PA and joked around...that was my goodbye...and he was so sick that I knew he was frustrated being trapped in his body. He was ready to go. He drew his last breaths to the sounds of "Amazing Grace" sang by my mom, brother, and grandma. I can't hear that song without breaking into tears. I loved him very, very much. I definitely got my sense of humor from him. After my car accident this spring I called him up and the first thing he said to me after "hello" was "Well, I got some utility poles around here if you need something else to hit..." AND I always had plenty of potassium in my system when I visited him...he loved bananas and I ate countless of them at his kitchen table growing up. The grown-ups use to sit outside in these old metal chairs under this huge maple tree at his house while us kids would run around in the yard and get water from the old water pump that always had a tin cup hanging from it. He use to take me to the barn when I was little and show me the tiny piglets and he would always warn me that the sows would bite my arm off if I went too close...I never did. On 1st grade "Pet Day" all the other kids had their parents bring in their dogs and hamsters and Grandpa went along with my scheme to bring in one of those piglets. That thing squealed so loud and kept trying to wiggle away but Grandpa still brought it. He never let a conversation go on too long and always left a party when he thought it should be done. Every year my family still puts on a Thanksgiving play because Grandpa loved to yell "Squanto!" when my little brother entered the "stage" dressed in feathers and with sister dressed up like a turkey. He spotted me money when I couldn't quite make the tuition payment in college, never missed a birthday and made sure I knew plenty about Maytag washers, rainbow sweepers and the value of glassware. I miss him so, so, so, so, so much. I love you Grandpa.