Sunday, July 5, 2015

Seems I left someone out of the family tree

Yesterday I gave my 90 year old Grandpa the tree I drew for him. He was really impressed. I think I might have been even more impressed by his appreciation.

My Grandpa has been a man of VERY few words for the 35 years I've known him. Having been married to my Grandma for the majority of his life he never had much opportunity to talk; she'd always done the talking and on the rare occasion that she wasn't talking one of their eight children certainly was. I remember at her funeral, while thanking everyone for attending he actually made the comment that he was going to have to learn how to talk with people now. I gave him the drawing yesterday and he read every name, he followed each branch and was so impressed seeing his enormous family spread out before him on paper. He kept saying, "great, you got everyone on here!"

I included the scripture from Psalm 127: Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD,
The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
So are the children of one’s youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them. He made everyone laugh so hard while he was reading the scripture and joked, "Yes, babies kind of are like arrows, their heads are so pointy when they first come out." He then looked around at everyone conversing and playing and swimming in the pool and he said, "oh my, my quiver is REALLY full."

After a little while he asked why my mom wasn't on the tree (this is my dad's dad I'm talking about). My parents have been divorced for 25 years. My dad remarried had two more children and has since been divorced a second time. I wasn't really sure how to answer his question. I don't even remember what I said, I mean I was pretty dumbfounded. My aunt later came up to me and said that my grandpa would really like it if I put my mom on the tree. She said that he asks about my mom all the time and that he's always really considered her a part of the family. My dad heard all that was going on and told me that I should really put my mom on the tree. It wasn't all dramatic or anything; I feel like I might be making it sound dramatic. I later asked my Grandpa if he would like me to add her to the tree (even though it didn't make a ton of sense to me since my parent's aren't married). He was so cute, he acted like it was my idea and said, "oh, it's okay, yeah, that would be a good idea."

I don't think I have words to express how touched I am by my Grandpa's heart. Twenty five years later, my Grandpa still considers my mom his daughter in law. If that's not a pure heart I don't know what is.

My 90 year old grandpa and my cousin, throwing balls for
my little brother to catch while he was jumping off the diving board

6 comments:

  1. Good for grandpa! It is his family tree and he would not let the mother of his grandchild(ren) be forgotten. Bless him!

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    1. There really aren't even words, he is such a special man. I'd like to type "God bless him" but God has blessed him!

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  2. He does not look even close to 90!!! That is how I want to be when I am that age -- in good health, surrounded by family - there is no greater blessing!!!

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    1. I know. My dad refers to him as the 60 year old 90 year old. I know that as of last year he was still riding his bike all the time. I think he still does. Talking to him and watching him interact with everyone he doesn't seem anywhere near 90.

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  3. Very sweet. I wish I or someone would have done for my parents before they died. Maybe for my mother in law- one of my kids could give it a go with their dads help.

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    1. It would be great if one of them did that for her. I was really surprised at how much he liked it.

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