My grandfather is an 80-year-old man with years of life experience. For as long as I can remember, he has looked the exact same for all of my life. He has wispy gray hair, cool blue eyes and faded skin color. My Grandpa is a medium build man and has a taller height for his age. My grandpa always combs his hair and looks freshly shaven.
My grandpa is like an old work horse. Even in his age he still mows his own lawn and clears brush from his woods. He still stocks wood piles and cuts them himself. I remember one time when I was around eleven years old and it was in October and I was playing around more than helping but he was in his late 70s. I saw him grab solid oak stumps and throw them into a wheelbarrow and haul it off. This past summer my father, uncle, and younger cousin all went to that old house of his and even when my grandfather’s back hurt and his sore body he was still out there working.
My grandfather always says hate is a disease and is never worth your time. There is one thing he does not like, that was him getting drafted to Vietnam. He never had to leave the country, but he had to go to Savannah Georgia so that meant he had to move away from his family for a while. He doesn’t like to talk about it. I can say I understand but I will never press the issue. There is this one story that calls in my mind that my dad tells me that one time when my father, uncle Norman, and grandfather went trap shooting. It starts with my father and Norman trap shooting. My grandfather stops by and Norman is egging my grandfather on and the old man takes a one shot and tired that clay pigeon to dust. My father loves that story.
Our relationship is grandfather and grandson. My grandfather, I remember when I was a young kid and he played soldier even though he did not like guns. He would still play with that little boy forever and would go outside in freezing weather or where you could feel the humidity hug your skin. He would watch Wallace and Gromet along with Shawn the Sheep with that kid well into the night. When my grandfather and grandmother would let me sleep over it was amazing. I would stay up way into the night and grandma would make homemade pound cake for us and grandpa would bring the root beer and we would have a little party watching movies.
My grandfather means a lot to me. He has spent a lot of his time taking care of me and having fun with me. He has taught me a lot about life and the value of hard work and how you should push through the hard times in life and you can slow down, take your time and think.
