Time and time again...
My grandpa turns 85 today! Pretty amazing, when you think about it. I've been very blessed to have him (and grandma too, of course!) around for all my life -and I can honestly say I got all my good traits from my grandparents. (And perhaps stubbornness and an odd sense of humor as well. :P) He has good days and bad, but he perseveres through both. It's been quite hard at times, both for him to accept the things he can no longer do, and for us to see his resignation (and struggles). I started cleaning and organizing his shop yesterday, and when I came across a chainsaw chain wrapped in an oil-soaked t-shirt so many old memories came flooding back. Not from the chainsaw, but the plain grey t-shirt. He's always worn white t-shirts under his button-up shirts (which is what he wears all the time now), but back in the day when he worked around the place he always wore a plain t-shirt -often with an unbuttoned short-sleeved shirt. I can remember having lunch or the morning coffee break with my grandparents, with both of them in work clothes and the dust stuck to their arms. It's been a long time since grandpa has been able to do any work around the place, but I can't imagine it without him.
It's strange where those old memories come from. A couple of months ago the store didn't have my usual brand of toothpaste, so I went with the cheapest non-additive kind I could find, which was Pepsodent. Good Lord, when I opened that tube it was every Saturday night of my childhood! It was the same toothpaste my grandparents used, and when I spent the night on Saturday (Bath Night) that scent followed them out of the bathroom -it is a pretty strong medicinal mint smell. :P Strange, how scent is so powerful for memories. Nice though. :)
And boy, I'm getting old. Not sure if it's the weight-loss (though I doubt it) or Summer, or just me, or what, but I've got lots of lines and wrinkles that don't go away anymore. And my hair is just falling out like crazy -has been for at least five years, but the collection in the shower drain-trap is ridiculous! It doesn't seem possible that I'll have any hair left on my head with the way it comes out in the shower and my brush. :\ And the little that's left on my head is getting more and more silver in it. Of course, I should expect that seeing as my mom was totally "salt and pepper" by the time she died. Ah well, I don't mind grey so long as I actually have hair on my head! :P
Blah, enough rambling, there's things to be done and birthday wishes to deliver!
Oh, and here's an amusingly true quote I found:
"When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished a how much he had learned in seven years." - Mark Twain
It's strange where those old memories come from. A couple of months ago the store didn't have my usual brand of toothpaste, so I went with the cheapest non-additive kind I could find, which was Pepsodent. Good Lord, when I opened that tube it was every Saturday night of my childhood! It was the same toothpaste my grandparents used, and when I spent the night on Saturday (Bath Night) that scent followed them out of the bathroom -it is a pretty strong medicinal mint smell. :P Strange, how scent is so powerful for memories. Nice though. :)
And boy, I'm getting old. Not sure if it's the weight-loss (though I doubt it) or Summer, or just me, or what, but I've got lots of lines and wrinkles that don't go away anymore. And my hair is just falling out like crazy -has been for at least five years, but the collection in the shower drain-trap is ridiculous! It doesn't seem possible that I'll have any hair left on my head with the way it comes out in the shower and my brush. :\ And the little that's left on my head is getting more and more silver in it. Of course, I should expect that seeing as my mom was totally "salt and pepper" by the time she died. Ah well, I don't mind grey so long as I actually have hair on my head! :P
Blah, enough rambling, there's things to be done and birthday wishes to deliver!
Oh, and here's an amusingly true quote I found:
"When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished a how much he had learned in seven years." - Mark Twain