Here I am, reminiscing again... I have a picture frame in my living room which has three pictures of my grandpa. They were taken at three very different periods in his life. My aunt gave me these copies of pictures soon after he passed away. I have just walked into the living room and brought the long picture frame to my office.
The very first picture is on the left. It is in black and white, taken in 1947, and he is leaning up against a cement wall with slippers, jeans, and no shirt. He's looking in the direction of the ocean, and he looks great. This picture was taken on his honeymoon, and he was 27. I'm sure he was the happiest man on that beach (how couldn't he have been? He was recently married to my grandma!). He looks young, strong, and confident.
The second picture is in my picture frame on the right. It is incredibly sweet. It is my grandpa and my dad. My dad looks between eight and ten years old. My grandpa looks about 40 years old. They are out in front of their house, in the driveway. I can still recognize the background of the photo. My dad and grandpa each has a Popsicle in hand. My dad is holding his up with both hands, right in front of his face, and my grandpa has his just in front of his stomach. My grandpa is smiling, and he is touching his Popsicle with my dad's. My dad is smiling and looking up at him. It is such a sweet and tender moment. My dad looks like such a little boy.... he's got his pants on and no shirt. I can feel how warm it must have been outside.
The third and last picture is in the center of the frame, and it is what I remember my grandpa looking like. He is much older (in his late 70s into his 80s), and he is standing next to his basil. My grandpa had a garden that he worked in a lot. He grew tomatoes and basil. They were the biggest tomato and basil bushes you had ever seen! I remember so many times when I arrived, walking up the stairs to go inside, and my grandpa would be outside working in his garden. If I found him in his garden (which happened a lot), I remember having a few minutes of just him and me before I would go in and see my grandma. I am not sure if I have ever mentioned this before, but the following story is one of my favorites. I remember when I was younger, maybe even in middle school, and my grandpa just loved "Miracle-Gro". He wrote a note to them about how great their product is, and he sent a picture of himself in his garden. If I remember correctly, they wrote back, and even sent him some products? **Family: If you are reading this, and have time, please let me know exactly what happened. The details are getting fuzzy in my mind.** In any case, he sent a picture that was very similar to this one in my picture frame. He is smiling in this picture, and he's got his suspenders on with his plaid short sleeve shirt. This makes me miss him.
I was thinking about him quite a bit yesterday and thinking how I have these three pictures of him that reflect the changes in his life. The first one when he started out in his life with my grandma; the second one where he's a dad; the last one showing him doing what he loves: tending his garden.
May we all reflect on our loved ones and instead of being sad they are gone, may we keep their memory alive by smiling and laughing about the good times we've had. It is good to cry, but through my tears, I try to remember how great I felt during the times we spent together. I am so thankful for him and how he made me feel. He always made me feel like I was important and that he always wanted to hear what I had to say. God bless him for that.
Happy Tuesday to you and yours...
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