For my grandfather

Scooped from: sodahead.com

In memory of a man I respected and loved.
I can only tell my story from my perspective.  I sometimes wish I knew my grandfather as intimately as some of my cousins, but I am glad and blessed to have known him.

My granddaddy, Tom (as he usually went by), was funny, loving, hard-working, and CHEAP.  Ha-ha-ha.  I can remember that my grandfather always loved to "pick at people."  With famous lines like, "I'll bite yo' head off," or "I'm feelin' mighty low," as a kid I never knew WHAT to expect from him...except that I could expect to receive a crisp $20 bill every 6 weeks that I made Honor Roll in grade school...that was until I spilled the beans to my other cousins who were only getting $10...man....

He always had a job for someone.  I remember that my brother's first job was helping my grandfather with his real estate and lawn care businesses.  But then again, my grandfather would employ ANYBODY.  He was always helping people.

My brother and I spent the night at my grandparents' house ONE time in our entire childhood and it was the BEST!  I was always scared of Grandma because she was always fussin' about SOMETHING!  But that one night, we got the royal treatment...pizza for dinner, an amazing breakfast, and she treated us like we were her only grandchildren! *Snickers*

As I got older, I really wanted to get to know my grandparents better and spend more time with them.  I started going over often my senior year of high school.  I spent that time mainly watching old westerns with my granddaddy and became very familiar with Festus from Gunsmoke and Lil' Joe from Bonaza.  Once, my brother and I even took he and my grandma out for breakfast at...of all places...the hospital.  He REALLLYYYY loved the breakfasts there!  My grandma thought that they would have to help my brother pay for the meal (I told her it was MY TREAT!) but by the time the cashier rang all of us up and applied their senior discounts...the total came to a WHOPPING $12...for 4 people! HA-HA-HA-HA. My grandfather spent that whole day telling anyone who would listen, "Wacha think about dat?! The GRANDCHILDREN takin' the granddaddy out?!" I felt honored that HE felt honored.

When I was in college, I made it a habit to have my accountability partner hold me to calling my grandparents every week at one point. My granddaddy seemed to look forward to those Sunday evening calls...and so did I for that matter.  It was a big deal for me to keep my grandma talking on the phone for TWO minutes so my grandfather usually did most of the talking.  We would chat about life and how things were going for me "up there."  He always told me to keep my head in the books and eyes off the boys...until my 22nd birthday when he told me not to become "an old maid."

Now that he's gone, it's the little things I miss about him.  I miss the way that he'd laugh that deep gut laugh that let you know it was him.  I miss the way he used to argue back and forth with my grandma on the phone over nothing at all.  I miss the way he used to grab our entire family's attention with his stories at family gatherings.  I miss the way he used to comb his hair into a perfect trapezoid.  I miss hearing him give good advice about home repairs.  But most of all, I miss the way he made our family feel like we were the most important people in the world to him...because we were.