Already a year...

Gramma, Grampa, and Me when I was 4 days old

Last year this time, we were preparing for trips to New Jersey and Iowa to bury two very important people in our lives.  On this, the one year mark since they were welcomed into heaven, I thought I'd share a few stories that my Grampa used to share with me.  I have to say, I really didn't think that the pain would still be there a year later but I guess that just shows how much I loved my Grampa.

My Grandparents were married in December of 1951 just before my Grampa was to be transferred to North Carolina in the services.  My Gramma decided to marry him and make the trip with him.  She had no idea this would be one of many cross country trips they would make in their married life. 

Grampa was a paratrooper and was stationed in Fort Bragg, NC.  They lived in a small home that was shared with another couple so this way, the rent was cheap.  I can remember my Grampa telling me about how all the men in his company knew he had a wife at home who could cook.  So Grampa would make a deal with them, if they bought all the food, he'd get Gramma to cook it BUT, he and Gramma got to keep any leftovers!  Even now as I write this story, I can recall the twinkle of cleverness in Grampa's eyes.  So with the deal made, he went home to tell Gramma that he was having the guys over, and oh yeah, your cooking!  LOL....I can just see this conversation playing over and over in my head....

But it didn't stop there. Grampa had a car when no one else in his company did.  So, tricky Grampa, used this to his advantage.  The men wanted to go to the drive in movies.  OK, not a big deal, right?  Well, Grampa decided, I'll drive but you have to pay for me and my wife and the gas.  (there's that twinkle in the eye again)  I love how my Grampa would laugh whenever he shared this story.  He thought it was so funny that he just had to show up and drive the car and not spend a dime!

Grampa and Me

I can sit here and remember all the little things Grampa used to say.  Whenever I called and he answered, I'd always get a "Hi there Sweetie".  Whenever he told a "fish" story, the fish would get longer and longer with each story.  I recall all the inside jokes we used.  I can remember each time going to visit, walking through the back door, Grampa sitting at the kitchen table, and me kissing him hello on the top of his head.  I remember him always having certs breath mints in his pocket.  He always wore his suspenders so his pants wouldn't fall down.  And one time, I remember him getting so irritated with me because I had secretly taken his jar of peanuts and sucked the salt off of each one.  He couldn't understand why the jar said salted when they clearly weren't.  Yep, I liked the salt, not the peanut!  I can remember going with him one time when he went out to pick up deer meat and watching him interact with his hunting friends and seeing an entirely different side of my Grampa.  I can still see him at the stove helping fix dinner and taking little bites of the ground beef before it's cooked and saying, "Mmmm, good" and me freaking out because it's still raw.  And I love hearing the stories of how his own Mom couldn't cook.  She'd overcook green beans and kill a perfectly good steak which is one of the attributes he loved in my Gramma, her good cookin'.  Oh, and his LOVE for chocolate.  I laugh because I see this same love of chocolate in Matthew.  He is his Great-Grampa's boy alright.  Chocolate cake, chocolate milk shakes, chocolate ice cream, fudge, chocolate anything!

Me trying to teach Grampa how to drive

I have a ton of memories all tucked away in my heart, some more personal than others.  But I can say, I was a Grampa's girl.  I loved being with him, watching him, listening to him, I just loved him.  He was one of the strongest, most dedicated people I ever knew. 




Me and Grampa

Gramma gave me his pocket Bible (that I never even knew he carried) last year after his funeral.  It is one of my most treasured belongings.  I love to hold it and feel the worn cover.  I love the way it smells.  I love the little notes he'd written in it.  I love how he had a index sheet tucked in it with the steps to bring someone to Christ.  I love knowing that this Bible was carried in my Grampa's pocket and that he was a good, God fearing, Christian man.  Most of all, I love that a lot of the verses he has marked in his Bible, I had the same ones in mine.  My favorite though is a notation he made in Acts.

They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”

 Acts 16:31

I have confidence in my heart that Grampa is in heaven enjoying the light of Christ.  Savoring every minute and sitting there with Jesus retelling stores with that twinkle in his eye. I know in my heart that my Grampa was saved.  He believed in Christ Jesus and because he ran his home and family this way, we will meet again at the gates of heaven.  Oh how marvelous it will be.  We will all look our best, feel our best, and be so filled with the Light of Christ we will sing and dance.  I imagine Grampa at his finest.  His hair wavy and full.  His hands stronger and his step quicker.  This is the image I carry in my heart.  My Grampa, at his finest, watching over me until it is time for me to come home and then, that's when I'll hear him say, "Hi there sweetie"....

Matthew and Grampa
(Matthew was 5 weeks old)