My Grandpa was more than just a "grandpa." He helped raise me- one of my 4 parental figures- each impacted my life in different ways. Grandpa was the one I did all of the stuff little girls do with their daddy, like dancing on their feet and telling stories. I was his little girl. He would play my favorite record over and over again, no matter how many times I asked. It was our favorite to dance to. That record is now framed and hanging on my living room wall. I have no idea how many times he let me play hair dresser (with his 10 strands of hair) or watch the movie I wanted to instead of the 'old boring ones' he wanted to watch. When I hit a line drive at his head- he didn't get mad at me. He was the first person to teach me how to drive- albeit 8 years early.
After my mom married my dad and we moved to Maryland, I spent every summer of my life with my grandparents. Some days I would go to work with Grandpa, before he retired. Others, I would stay with Grandma. On those days we would make special meals for Grandpa, and pick up his favorite doughnuts on our way to pick him up from work. He was a brilliant business man, and incredibly intelligent. I may not agree with his political beliefs, but he wouldn't hold that against me, or anyone for that matter. If you could hold your own in a debate with him, you earned his respect. My mom always said she loved bringing her dates home to meet Grandpa. If they couldn't hold their own against him, they weren't worth her time.
Grandpa also shared his hobbies with me. He loved his flowers, and tried desperately to get me love it too. I may not love gardening, but I certainly know how to. I helped him with his stamp collection- not an easy task when you're a small child and the books easily weighed 10 pounds. There are things that he loved that did sink in with me.
- I love music. I inherited his CDs when he passed- a few hundred- mostly of the big band era. He always got a look in his eye when he was listening to a piece he loved.
- I love traveling. It's become a family tradition- we all want to go to all 50 states. Grandpa made it to 49. Grandma 48, and this last summer I took mom to her 48th. Grandpa always wanted Grandma to visit Hawaii. He had a lot of memories from there. So this December we're going as a family. Get them one step closer to 50. I have been to 30, and the commonwealth of Puerto Rico. I've also been to 8 other countries. Nothing in comparison to the list I've generated of places to visit. I don't know if it's my love of history, learning, seeing new things, or literature taking me to these places, but I know I love to travel, and my first trips were with him.
- I love history- reading about it, traveling to historic places, tearing apart historically inaccurate movies. ;) WWII was his specialty, but one could certainly find books from every American war in his collection.
- I love movies- a wide variety of movies- watching them, going to them, analyzing them. If I'm ever on Jeopardy and John Wayne is an option- I'm sure to win thanks to Grandpa.
- I love reading. Politics. War. History. Fiction. Non-fiction. (I also like the chick lits, biographies of people he never would have read about, and a bit more of the liberal topics than Grandpa exposed me to, but I think he'd forgive me.) I am also thankful that I inherited my Grandma's ability to read very quickly- a handy gift with this particular love. I have no idea how many days he would be watching tennis or golf- or even Rush Limbaugh- while I was sitting on the couch devouring copious amounts of books. I think I polished off all of the Nancy Drew books in one summer.
- I love sports. I can't claim I got this one from Grandpa alone. The women in my family tend to have the market on knowledge of and ability to play. My love of football, baseball, and basketball come from Grandma, but from Grandpa I got the love of college sports over professional. I swear that man knew everything about Michigan State, and knowing about the other schools was important as it related to MSU.
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