We Miss You, Grandad

 

Dear Grandad,

 

Thank you for teaching me to drive on the back roads of Rochelle, even if it scratched up your truck.

 

Thank you for all your work as a volunteer fireman in a little town where people needed your help and expertise. 

 

Thank you for working hard for many years at a job that was so physically demanding to provide for your family - even after you were gone.

 

Thank you for all the tricks you taught Tip and all the hours of fun that me and John and my cousins had playing with the dogs ... feeding them ... playing fetch and watching them climb trees.

 

Thank you for all the fruits and vegetables you grew. The hours you spent out working in the yard pulling weeds, mowing, watering, picking up branches and pecans.  I got to experience so many things on farm because of your hard work.

 

Thank you for taking us out to the lake for picnics and for taking us fishing. Even if we were too loud to  really catch fish.

 

Thank you for standing and waiting for Grandmommy and me for lunch at the Goat Cook-off.  Letting us buy and browse while you waited for lunch.

 

Thank you for all the spring breaks, summer vacations and long weekends you let me come and stay.  I'm sure I interrupted your routines many times, but you never complained.  You were always glad to see me.

 

Thank you for helping out your neighbors - especially the little widows - with mowing and odd jobs around their places.  You were a hard worker. Even in retirement.

 

Thank you for sending mom to Dallas after graduation even though it was sad and scary. Only God knew how that would change the course of Mom's (and Mary's) life. 

 

Thank you for being so "Texas".  I don't know how else to put it. I loved your hat and boots and stubborn ways. I love that you never left the state. You were so proud to be a Texan.  Proud to be a cowboy.  Proud to be just who you were.

 

Thank you for introducing me to coffee. (Starbucks frappuccinos and mochas with all their "coffee flavored milks" are all the rage now - but you knew it back then.  You were giving me coffee flavored milk from the time I could sit up.)

 

Thank you for loving Grandmommy and taking care of her.  Thank you for the trips you took her on. The restaurants. The gifts you bought her.  The new cars that made her happy. Thank you for doing your best to provide for her.  Thank you for giving her the freedom you did to do the things she wanted at the church and in the community. Thank you for all the times you settled for vienna sausages and white bread so she could take me to Brady for the day. Thank you for giving her a safe place.

 

Thank you for going to the post office on Valentine's Day in your heart boxers.  I love that memory.  When I think about you, I often think of that.  

 

Thank you for  making trips to Dallas. It was a long drive, but you were there for big birthdays and graduations.  For Mary's family too.  Thank you for those times.  

 

Thank you for making BBQ bacon. Genius.

 

Thank you for loving us all.  With all our crazy and different personalities and interests. Our different education levels and different senses of humor.  Thank you for always making us feel welcome at your house.

 

Thank you for introducing me to tutti-frutti ice cream.  Yum.

 

Thank you for all the hours you spent working on cars for Mary and Mom and Tony.  Making sure they had a ride - even if was backward through town. 

 

Thank you for "taking us on an afternoon ride" and for speeding up going over the bumps so our stomachs flew into our throats. So fun. Thanks for always stopping to point out out a deer or a turkey or an armadillo. Thank you for all the drives you took Grandmommy on after we left to get her mind off it.

 

Thank you for letting me bid as much as I wanted to make sure I won Grandmommy's coconut cake at the fish fry. (I know you wanted a piece too!)

 

Thank you for being a dad to Mom and Mary and Tony "that you didn't have to be".