Eulogy
When I think of my childhood, I smell Gardenia and Mimosa blossoms. Frank(Grandpa) Lindsey had planted Gardenias lining his entire driveway, and Mimosas lining the street, because Grandma Lindsey liked their smell. To me, Grandpa Lindsey seemed a simple man, but really he was an earthy man, in touch with nature, dirt, growing things and children. In that age, that was exactly what I needed. I spent many a day with Grandpa, roaming through the vegetable garden, as he explained to me the workings of his plants and his methods of making them grow, which seemed to me to be a very magical thing, as he directed the ebb and flow of life. I absorbed that knowledge in a way, not so much by listening, because really, what 6- 15 year old listens to lectures?, but by repetition, because he was always teaching, talking about the plants, every time I was over there. Especially his special pride, his experiments with pepper plants. I spent many an hour watching football and boxing with him too, and an admirable amount of time watching every John Wayne movie known to man, but he didn't talk much during those times. Grandpa gave me an unconditional love, and I hardly ever heard him say anything negative about anything. Well, barring FDR and Willie Nelson. When he spoke to me, it was almost always a lesson or a story that had a lesson in it. From stories of welding battleships together in World War 2, or the story of the dog and the judge, or, when I almost stepped in a nest of rattlers, he told me the story of when Ben did step on a rattler, and stayed standing on it. The one story that I never heard, was the one that was self evident, in the owls lining the walls, the family photos in the hallway, the gardenias in the driveway, and the house we all helped build. The story of his love for Grandma Lindsey. I have yet to hear this story, but the evidence of it was all around. They made a formidable team, and I learned the meaning of stability from watching Grandpa and Grandma handle what seemed like an uncountable number of relatives and children at the annual christmas parties way back then.
: Still editing/composing.
Well, the Grandpa that I knew, was a man that didn't like to wait for things to get done, he would do it himself, whether it was done wrong or right, he didn't seem to care, just as long as it got done.
: Still editing/composing.
Well, the Grandpa that I knew, was a man that didn't like to wait for things to get done, he would do it himself, whether it was done wrong or right, he didn't seem to care, just as long as it got done.