06/15/2026
Today is my Grandaddy's BDay. He's been gone a long time, but there's not a day that goes by that I don't feel him near me in some little way. He was my Hero and always will be. He was the sweetest, most gentle man I've ever known. I never heard him even raise his voice but once, and it was well deserved. And he could make anything grow. He had the most beautiful gardens, full of stunning flowers and shrubs, vegetables and fruit trees. It was an enchanted kingdom where I dreamed and played as a child.
Whenever he left the house, he put on his little hat with a feather in it, even it was just to go to the store. He never went anywhere without it. He said it was a sign of respect and that was important to him. He took a “Sunday drive” every weekend that inevitably ended with ice cream at Dairy Queen. He also cooked a mean steak on the grill, every Sunday. He could build just about anything and was always tinkering around in his basement. I spent many happy hours mesmerized, watching him work.
He told me one day, as we were driving to the store, that he had turned the sound down on his hearing aide because, in his words, "I love your Momar, my Grandmother, more than anything, but sometimes, I just have to tune her out!" Lol How funny! I'm sure she never even knew! No wonder he couldn't hear what I was saying!!!
Sitting here on my porch swing, thinking of him, I realize just how very much I miss him. What a man he was. Indeed, what a man. My Hero.
And he grew the most beautiful, huge sunflowers, every year. He loved them, as do I.
Happy Birthday, Grandaddy! I miss you and love you, forever and ever.
Enjoy those you love while you have them. I have experienced a lot of loss in the last year and a half. So many things I wish I had done differently. Time waits for no man, or woman. There’s no time like the present. Just that word, “present”, tells you that the here and now is a “gift.” Treat it as such. Unwrap it with love and anticipation. Open it up with joy. Revel in it. It’s everything there is…Listen to their stories, record their voices as they tell them. Take real pictures and put them in an album, not on a cloud. Enjoy the time you have been given. Make it count.
