Mamma Katt's Workshop

The Prompts:

1.) Ask A Dad! Write a letter asking your husband for advice regarding any issue you might have and record his answer.(inspired by Three Bay B Chicks)

2.) Describe a situation that forced you to confront a neighbor.(inspired by Jori-O)

3.)Tell us about Grandpa.(inspired by Heather at The Extraordinary Ordinary)

4.) Which appliance in your home would you most miss living without if you had to live without.(inspired by Amy at Escape Into My Thoughts)

5.) What are three things we would love to know about you!(inspired by Live. Laugh. Pull Your Hair Out)

This is my Grandpa... on my Mom's side. This is a picture of me with him, on the dock at our lake cabin. I think I am about 4 when this was taken. (My Grandma wants me to add that HE built the lake cabin, with the help of many friends!)

~shakes head~

Whom ever put me in the purple snow suit with the matching RED roots and gloves was obviously not a fashionista! HAHAHAHAH!!! I do remember I LOVED that stupid snow suit though!!!

The assignment is to tell you about my Grandpa.

God called Grandpa home in January 1994. I have so many great memories of him, that it's really hard to narrow it all down. He didn't swear. He didn't drink any alcohol (a complete Tea tottler). He went to church every week, unless we out of town, or too sick. He worked hard everyday of his life: He retired twice. No matter how busy his schedule, he made time for family and friends. He had the loving arms of what I would imagine my heavenly father to have (you know the ones that makes every problem melt away)to hug us with. Once, I fell off my bike, he was there to hold me on his lap, after kissing my skinned knee's and put the band-aid on. (This is before all the anti-bacterial spray stuff...)HMMMM How did I not die from some infection!?!?!?!?!

Life wasn't always easy for Grandpa. He contracted Polio as a young man, and walked with a limp for the rest of his life. He NEVER used it as an excuse or reason not to accomplish any goal he set for himself, or his family. In is late fifties, he had a heart attack and was one of the first in the country to have this "break through by-pass surgery" called open heart surgery...Now a days they do that all laprascopically. He later developed type two diabetes, which required several shots of insulin a day and poking his finger to monitor it. This is all before the discovery/invention of a pill that can achieve a similar result. All this and he still kept going full speed ahead.

He was the adult I turned to in a conflict of faith. He was the one that I could count on to have a moral compass and push me in the right direction. He taught me about free will. HMMMM, He was even the one, that I went to, when I needed a loan to get an apartment post college graduation. He was so sweet about it too. He told me to not worry about it and to pay him when I earned my first million! That didn't seem right, so I later repaid my grandma after he passed.

As I am writing this now, I still can't believe that he isn't here anymore. I don't think my grandparents ever missed a single piano recital, band concert, sports meet, or performance. They sat proud and supportive in chairs, that didn't even have a cushion. It was like they were my parents, except with more ice cream. He and my Grandma taught me to drive the family truck. (@age 11, it was a big deal then!) Grandma said, if something happened to grandpa, I could drive him back to the cabin to get help. (I think that was to make HER feel better about teaching me at a young age!) Anyway, just before he got sick, he gave me a book, called, "Gods promises to the graduate". He wrote on the inside to me, and I have kept that book with me ever since. I had it the night he went home to Jesus, which Grandma and I used to provide comfort. I also had the day my Mom passed. I find solice in finding little phrases and passages they would enjoy. Today, I keep my "mad" money in it, safely tucked in the bookshelf. (which seems to be safer there or even in a coffee can buried in the back yard, ~rolls eyes~ thanks to the ObamaLama!)

So, Thank you Grandpa, for all that you taught me, for all that you showed me and for all that you loved me. I am forever in your debt.

Love,

Bambi