Grandpa

LETTER FROM HEAVEN

To my dearest family, some things I'd like to say.
But first of all, to let you know, that I arrived okay.
I'm writing this from heaven. Here I dwell with God
above. Here, there's no more tears of sadness; Here is just eternal love.
Please do not be unhappy just because I'm out of sight.
Remember that I am with you every morning, noon and night.
That day I had to leave you when my life on earth was
through. God picked me up and hugged me and He said, "I welcome you.
It's good to have you back again, you were missed while
you were gone. As for your dearest family, They'll be here later on.
There's so much that we have to do, to help our mortal man."
God gave me a list of things, that he wished for me to
do. And foremost on the list, was to watch and care for you.
And when you lie in bed at night the day's chores put to
flight. God and I are closest to you....in the middle of the night.
When you think of my life on earth, and all those loving
years. Because you are only human, they are bound to bring you tears.
But do not be afraid to cry: it does relieve the pain. Remember
there would be no flowers, unless there was some rain.
I wish that I could tell you all that God has planned.
If I were to tell you, you wouldn't understand.
But one thing is for certain, though my life on earth is
o'er. I'm closer to you now, than I ever was before.
There are many rocky roads ahead of you and many hills to
climb; But together we can do it by taking one day at a time.
It was always my philosophy and I'd like it for you too;
That as you give unto the world, the world will give to you.
If you can help somebody who's in sorrow and pain;
Then you can say to God at night......"My day was not in vain."
And now I am contented....that my life was worthwhile.
Knowing as I passed along the way I made somebody smile.
So if you meet somebody who is sad and feeling low;
Just lend a hand to pick him up, as on your way you go.
When you're walking down the street and you've got Me on
your mind; I'm walking in your footsteps only half a step behind.
And when it's time for you to go....from that body to be
free. Remember you're not going.....you're coming here to Me.


I am so very blessed to be able to know my Grandfather for as long as I did. The day after he passed, my oldest son told me he didn't have a Great Grandpa anymore and I thought, I don't have a Grandpa. Then I started to think about how so many people out there don't even have parent's, brothers or sisters or any family what so ever. I thank god every day to have the family that I do.

My Grandpa died on Sept 30th. His battle with cancer was lost. He is not suffering anymore, nor is he in any pain. As much as I miss him and would want to see him again, he had already sacrificed enough to keep us all happy.

Growing up, he was our dad. My sister and brothers dad was killed when they were young and my mom later remarried my dad who turned out to be a real twit. She divorced him when I was 2. She bought a place only 2 blocks from my Grandparents. Whether it was because she needed there help, or just didn't want to move far from them, I don't know but I'm glad that she stayed put.

My mom worked a full time job. Yes we had a babysitter but when my brother and sister were old enough to watch me, she'd have them since my Grandparents were so close. I can't tell you how many times a day we would call them though because of us fighting over some of the stupidest things. My Grandma would usually tell us that we would be in deep doo doo if my Grandpa had to come over and 9 x out of 10, he did have to come over. He'd holler at us and threaten us with his belt but never did he. We would usually laugh when he'd walk out the door as to how mean he'd like to think he was but we knew he couldn't hurt a fly.

He did so much for everyone in our family. At one point when my mom was little, my Grandpa was a logger in Kilgore. They lived in a school bus. To this day, where he did a lot of his logging, is where we go camping.

Growing up, it seemed like everyone in our family had a fireplace. So, when it came summer, we would all get together and get our fire wood. There was a total of 8 kids and 5 adults and then my Grandparents. It would take us a month or so but every weekend, we would go get wood. My Grandma would make these great big huge picnics with tons and tons of snacks. Not to mention all the cookies and goodies that she would bake up. My Grandpa and 2 uncles would use the chain saws while the woman and kids stacked all the wood in the trucks. It was so much fun. Driving to Kilgore, we'd always fight over who got to ride w/ Grandpa. He'd tease us by pushing on the gas and then letting up and tried to fib and tell us he was running out of gas. He also loved to hit every single pot hole on the road. He was also very notorious for seeing things a mile off the road and having to stop and go find out what it was. We would often fall asleep and when we'd wake up, he'd ask us where we where we were. Reminding us of how important it was that we pay attention because if anything ever happened. All we paid attention to was a HUGE rock that is on the way out there. It's called slit rock but we changed the name to pee rock since it's my Grandma's famous spot to pop a squat since it's right in the middle of the journey and no restrooms to be found.

Kilgore is a big name for our family. Growing up, we spent almost all of our summers there. Yea, we spent probably most getting wood but it was still a blast. When the time to get fire wood was over, we would start spending our weekends there camping. And as with getting fire wood, it was a huge family event. We didn't have much to do except fish but we didn't care. Nothing was funner then to sit on the bank of some itty bitty creek and try to out fish my Grandma. I don't think anyone ever did though. The suckiest thing about it all was, my Grandparents would make us bate our own hooks, take the fish off and clean the fish out.

We only stayed up just after dark. My Grandpa would get a great big huge fire going for dinner and just before bed, we'd roast marshmellows. My Grandma always burning hers completley black and having to yell at Grandpa for help getting it off the stick. They always took this great big huge tub to wash dish's in or if we needed to bath and couldn't get in the creek for some reason or another. Thinking back on it now, it's really grose to think that we also used that tub to wash the dogs when they'd get sprayed by skunks.. lol

My Grandpa was just always there. Anytime anything went wrong, we always called him. At his funeral, me and my sister were laughing about how he used to come over and unplug our toilet all the time. He was always so mad at us and telling us that he was going to make us go under the house with him next time he had to come over.. But of course, he never did.

Anytime we broke something that would require someone else to come in and fix it, he always did. He worked for the city for the longest time and in the winter, he'd plow the roads. He would always call my mom to see if the guy plowing our street plowed us in. If they did, he'd come over with the plow and plow us out. Eventually, he had passed the word onto all the guys that my poor brother would have to go shovel at 6 a.m. if he couldn't get there in time.. so then the guys would be extra cautious to not plow us in.

When I had my first broken bone, he was there. I was only 4 and in a seat on the back of my mom's bike. We were on a bike ride with my Grandparents. I was so very intelligent and stuck my foot in the back spokes of my moms bike. My Grandpa picked me up out of the seat and stuck me in the basket of the front of his bike. Even being 4 and am 31 today, I remember that like yesterday. It honestly hurt more sitting in the basket of his bike then it did to actually break my ankle. Still though, we went right straight back to there house so my Grandpa could look at it and my Grandma could give me something good to eat to try to shut me up.. lol

I also remember when I thought I'd try to learn to ice skate, minus the ice skates. I had put on some weird looking cowboy boots of my sisters and thought I'd go out and try to do a few turns in the middle of the road. I had to of been around 8 or so. I know I slid around the road for awhile before I got brave to do any twisties but the first one I did, I bit the dust, or should I say ice. I hit it so very, very hard. The first thing I checked was to make sure I hadn't knocked out any teeth and then I saw the blood. I knew it wasn't good but was petrified of going to my mom. As was, I was tired of hearing her call me Gracie since I was lacking in gracefulness.. hahaha.. Anyways, as soon as I got through the door and she saw, she grabbed her coat and off we ran to my Grandparents house. She wanted my Grandpa to check out my nose. Even through my tears, he never cracked a smile.. Even though I know he wanted to. Yes, he tells my mom, you better take her to the dr.. He to thought I broke my nose and both of them were right.

I miss calling my Grandpa and asking him how he was feeling.. He'd always respond with "with my fingers".
You would ask if Grandma was round.. and he'd say yep.. she's big and round.
Going to visit and even being as old as we were, he'd tell you to pull his finger.

He was amazing with his hands. He built there home by himself. It started of being a one room place with one bathroom. When he was done, it was 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. Anything in that house that could be built, he built it. He made a picnic table for there kitchen table. Eventually they had to sell it, it was to hard for them to keep up. The bought a mobile home and still with that, he was changing the walls, flooring, anything he possibly could on a regular basis. Shortly after they moved in, he built them an entertainment stand. Absolutely gorgeous. He did all there cupboards too. When we were little, he built all us girls dressers (I still have mine) and made us earring stands (sad to say I don't have that). The funniest thing about him was, he never EVER used directions if there were any to read. Almost every time he built something, it just came right out of his head. For years and years, he built sheds for Anderson Lumber. They would sell them for ridiculous price's and my Grandpa didn't ask for much off them. His enjoyment was just building them.

He was truly a great man. I am sad that my boys didn't know him like I did but still so very thankful that they did know there Great Grandpa.