Early this morning my grandpa passed away peacefully after a very tough battle with lung cancer.
The very first memory I have of my grandpa is me sitting on his knee while he sang “The wheels on the bus” and clapped my hands together with his. That song has been forever engrained in my memory with visions of him.
My second memory is of him holding me in his arms and rocking me back and forth. I had been crying about something or another and he just kept softly saying “My baby, my princess”.
For those people that met my grandpa briefly, his comical, flirty, snarky side, they would say he resembled a movie star. The Marlboro man maybe, or james dean. Eternally wearing blue jeans and some sort of plaid shirt (or sometimes two mismatched plaid shirts together!). He was a man that would get his hands dirty and get the job done.
For the rest of us tho, those of us that knew his every facial expression, the way he sat, and the way he laughed, we had a whole other man. My grandpa cherished family time. He loved when everyone was sitting around together just “shooting the breeze and livin the dream” as he called it. 
He wouldn’t say too much but instead he would watch everyone. He would slowly nod his head and smile at the wonder that was His family! I’ve never known another man more proud of his kids, grandkids, nieces, or nephews. He may not always like what we did, and he told us so! But he truly loved us unconditionally.
My grandpa sat in a chair in a way that must have been comfortable to him but didn’t quite look so to me! He always had one leg crossed over the other and that dangling foot was slowly, methodically, keeping time. Always moving. He was also never without a cup of coffee in hand. He may have only requested that you get him “an inch of coffee in the bottom of a cup” but he would savor that coffee until the last drop was gone!
My grandpa’s laugh is one of the things that I will miss the most about him. When he laughed he lit up the entire room. He didn’t always laugh often, but when he did, you knew he meant it. And it was such a treasure for him to laugh at something you had told him. When he laughed his entire upper body would dance and that deep husky chuckle is one sound that I will never forget!
My grandpa also loved to voice his opinions It may not be the same opinion as anyone else in the entire house at the time, but he let you know! He referred to President Obama as Kabumbie and no matter how many times we would say in hushed voices “grandpa! Someone might hear!” He would simply shrug and look around as if to say “what? Nobody’s lookin at me”.
My grandpa was also an amazing hugger! He had long arms and very big hands, both of which would completely envelope your body as you were lost in the eternal maze of plaid pockets and metal shirt snaps. Even at 75 years old my grandpa was incredibly strong! When he hugged you all of the air would leave your body and you were left gasping for air but not wanting to end the hug either.
My grandpa had faith in me. His approval was something that on the surface came easily for me. He loved me exponentially, I was his princess. But beneath that, his approval was something that I have cherished with all my heart. It made him so proud to hear how many hours a week I had worked, or that I had made the dean’s list in college, or that I went to a movie with some friends instead of getting drunk. And even tho he is now gone, his approval is something that I will never stop working for.
He was a wonderful, loving, hardworking family man that would have given any of us the shirt off of his own back if we needed it. I will miss him dearly. But I am so happy that he can live comfortably now.
