Goodbye, Grandpa

As most of you already know, my grandpa died early Monday morning. I went into work last night and there was a page in Roll Call that where my company expressed their condolences for my loss. Seeing his name in the same sentence as the word "death" was so surreal to me. It felt like I was reading someone else's thing about their grandpa.

My grandpa was the epitome of what a Grandfather should be. I'm sad that he's gone, but I feel as though my time with him was more than I could have ever asked for. Whenever I had a problem with anything in my life, I'd swing by his house, sit next to him while he sat in his recliner and we both talked and talked. He had a way of saying things that might not have made sense right then, but after a while a light goes on and you think, "Oh that's what he meant!" and it all made sense. My grandpa loved me for all my accomplishments and my flaws. He accepted me as a hard-headed youngster with a strong will. He accepted me as the independent teenager with liberal views and and an even more liberal appearance. And he accepted me into adulthood as I made my way through life jumping over hurdles and figuring out parenthood and marriage.

I never felt like he judged me and I never once felt like I wasn't the most precious person in the world to him. I hope he knows that I felt that same exact way about him. I loved working with him in his shed, doing yard work, reminiscing about my years as a kid, beeping at him as he was tinkering around in his garage and I was driving down Newburgh Rd.

After my grandparents moved from Detroit to Livonia, it became my job to cut their grass. This was something I did for them close to two to three times a week(yea, I know... my grandma was anal about it!) and each time I cut the grass my grandpa gave me $20. One summer he offered me a proposal. He suggested that instead of paying me every time I cut the grass he would keep track of my earnings and pay me one lump sum at the end of the summer. I agreed and when summer ended he handed me a check that was for far more than a summer of grass cuttings was worth. He told me to do something nice for myself, so that fall I used the money to go to New York City. Upon my return my grandpa told me that a wall was being erected on Ellis Island and that my Great Grandparents names were going to be on it. He told me that I would need to go back and see it. Once the wall was up he'd ask me "Have you been to the wall yet?" "No Grandpa, I haven't been yet." Then he'd tell me a story about how one of his siblings had gone to see it. I promised him my next visit to NYC I would go and take a picture of it for him. It wasn’t until last summer that I was able to go again and I went to Ellis Island and found the his last name on the Wall of Honor and took a picture for him. I am glad I had a chance to do that before he died. It was something important to him for me to see.

My grandpa was such an incredible person. I can't express how lucky I feel to have had him in my life. I hope the memories of him never fade. I hope his distinct voice always plays out in my mind. I hope he comes to visit me again... only this time, don't freak me out Grandpa!!!

I'll always be your Bug!