The Reluctant Mermaid

one woman unwilling to swim in the same direction as the others

5/7/07

Remembering him

Grampy is gone. Although he (in spririt and soul and person) left us a while ago, his body finally gave up and left us yesterday.
There are some things that I always want to remember:

*Last wednesday when Chris (one of my brothers) and I went to see him and say goodbye, he was very "chatty" with us and kept mumbling things. He was very delighted to look at a Renoir painting of some sailboats. He said he'd love to take off in one. When I had to go, I leaned in to him and said "Grampy I love you..." and he replied "Well, I love you too and I hope to see you again soon".

*When we were little, every single time he wanted to take a picture of us kids, one or more of us would stick our tongues out when he would say "cheese" and it would just TICK him off... he would throw up his hands, exasperated but no matter how upset he would get we just couldn't help ourselves... ONE of us had to do it to him every time...

*He had a huge electric train table set up in the basement and I was absolutely fascinated by the perfectness of the miniature trees... he made them look so real!

*He used to order shrimp cocktail and a martini as an appetizer whenever we went out to eat, and if we asked him if we could have a shrimp he would say, "oh you don't want these things... they're horrible- I'll just eat them all so you won't have to taste how bad they really are"

*He bartended at the Elks Club for, well, forever! I don't even remember what he did before that... but he bartended there after he retired from his other career and he made one mean Shirley Temple. (his specialties were Boilermakers though)

*He and Grammy were married for 60 years

*He was in WWII

*He loved each and every one of us... to bits and pieces.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm so sorry for your loss. He sounded like one hell of a guy!

Anonymous said...

Oh man ... that part about the shrimp is hysterical! Your grandfather was a PIP!

I'm so sorry Kat! :hug

Anonymous said...

This is a fabulous tribute to an obviously very much-loved man.
I am so sorry to read that he has passed on.
Hold on to those memories. It's sounds like he had a beautiful life and left some very special memories in his family's hearts.

I will light a candle for your grandpa tonight.

~Kat~ said...

Thank you all so much for your kind words and healing wishes...
you know Tricia- to this day I'm convinced that I HATE shrimp... LOL