My blog posts tend to have a lingering sense of negativity to them. Maybe it's because I'm still holding a grudge in life for never winning anything at the silent auction games all these years. I always guess the highest price and when I so call "win" the stupid thing, they want me to pay for it. That's lame! Is this not the price is right??
Oh well, who knows where the negative side of me stems from. All I know is it's gotten me this far in life. Why change now?
But through my thick headedness and cynicism, I do have a soft spot or two in my heart. And right now, one of those soft spots is taking charge of my thoughts.
When I was a little girl, my favorite movie in the entire world was Winnie the Pooh. And my favorite place to watch it was cuddled up next to my Gramps. The day the VHS of my favorite movie broke was the worst day of any four year olds life! But Gramps came to the rescue and fixed the tape good as new! A hero was born in my eyes that day and 23 years later, I still see him as that. My hero. And not just becuase he fixed my Winnie the Pooh tape, but because he is by far one of the best men I know.
I've never left the presence of my Gramps without the chance to have heard one of his life stories. The man can talk about himself for hours. (right now my mom is singing, "Oh Lord it's hard to be humble") But even after hearing the same stories over and over, I never get tired of listening to him and soaking in his words of wisdom. Or listening to him recite some sort of poem that makes no sense to me, but sounds so perfect because of the way it can flow so effortlessly out of his mouth.
Over the past few years I've watched my Gramps battle cancer. I've watched him remain strong and encourage us as family members that everything would be ok. And through the ups and downs of the long road called cancer, he has continued to stay positive. Never getting down for a second. I think of how many times a day I mumble under my breath at how tired I am, or how bad I have it when in reality, I have it so easy.
I could go on and on about the times spent on the front porch swing watching humming birds with Gramps. Or the memories of him playing his elaborate collection of guitars and singing "every-time I go to town, them boys keep kickin my dog around" or some other old folk song he enjoyed.
I've gone through some pretty challenging trials in my life, and made some poor choices through them. My gramps has always been there to offer his advice without directing any judgment towards me and has always chosen to stand behind me and support me 100% in any decision I make. There have been so many times I've needed a shoulder to cry on and Gramps is always there to listen. And these days, if he gets tired of listening to me complain, he can just turn off his hearing aids!! ;) I am honored to have such a great man as a grandpa. You get better soon!! Love you Gramps!!
