Musings and more about my grandpa

For the past 32 years, I've had the honor of knowing a great, great man, known to me as Grandpa. Grandpa lived to a wonderful age of 90, and he filled his life with a wide diversity of activities. He was a Lt. Colonel in the United States Army, where he fought in WWII and the Korean War. He was part of the Tank Corps and the intelligence division, leading him to not discuss his military work very often. He did begin to tell us some of his secrets within the past 10 years or so. For most of my life, my Grandpa was deaf. At first, he wore a hearing aid and could get some of what we said. This progressed to us talking to him via a telephone that would print out what we said. We also wrote in notebooks, which he always kept nearby. After my grandmother died in 1995, my grandpa ended up moving from Sparta, TN to Albertville, AL in order to be closer to family. It never failed to bring a smile to my face when we would come around the corner into his assisted living room and he would grin and shout, "Well hello there!" He was always happy to see us. I always wondered what his thoughts were as he watched his great-grandchildren play and chatter around him. He always had a slight grin on his face as he watched them, and I couldn't help but wonder if he was wishing he could hear their small, eager voices. Grandpa was just happy to have us there. Grandpa never failed to remind us as we were leaving to stay out of trouble, and I always knew that what he really meant was, "go have as much fun as you can!"

I know Grandpa is causing trouble up in Heaven now with our Father, because he's back home with his precious Daisy Lee, my grandma. I can't help but smile when I think about how happy he must have been to see his Father's face, and then his Daisy's face.

Yesterday I had the honor of attending grandpa's funeral up on a beautiful hillside amidst the rolling hills of central Tennessee. Grandpa was a military man to the Nth degree, and he would have been proud. I do have to say that the rifle salute scared the beejeebers out of me--I really wasn't expecting it--that, and everything else were perfectly fitting to the man that I'm happy to call Grandpa.

Until we meet again, I love you Grandpa!!!