Tomorrow I'm going to my last Grandfather's funeral. No one will see it as a tragedy or a life taken too early, but rather a relief to a tough man's suffering. He was ninetytwo he fought off Pnumonia more times than I can remember. Although with every victory his body won there was a price to be paid. More frail and distant after each struggle. He was slowly becoming a shadow of his former self.
He always had a loving smile and a kind twinkle in his eyes when he saw us. it was crulely contrasted with his labored and pained breathing and could barely move without assistance. He was the posterboy for active-lifestyle generations before they had such concepts. Equal parts that he had to and that he needed to. Early on in the 1940's and 1950's he was contstantly hunting and fishing mostly to keep his family fed who lived in a one room farmhouse. I saw it when I was 5 or 6 It was the size of a bedroom.
Self reliance is the word that mostly comes to mind when seeking discriptors for the man. Although he did also expect it from his own including his sons. My Dad left home when he was 14 and was driving a milk truck. Yes at 14. Milk trucks in 1959 weren't designed for driver comfort and Canadian winters. My Father asked my Grandfather for enough money to buy some gloves so his hands wouldn't freeze. My Grandfather's reply was, "I don't know if you'll pay me back, so no.". My Father never forgave that. Yet the same man crocheted a blanket for each and every one of his grandchildren. Me personaly when I was 9 or 10 he gave me a lasso that the had braided himself it was just child size. I wish I hadn't lost it in my childhood.
I know that I will never truly know the man as a person but he was always kind and good to me and that's all I'll use to measure the man.
He always had a loving smile and a kind twinkle in his eyes when he saw us. it was crulely contrasted with his labored and pained breathing and could barely move without assistance. He was the posterboy for active-lifestyle generations before they had such concepts. Equal parts that he had to and that he needed to. Early on in the 1940's and 1950's he was contstantly hunting and fishing mostly to keep his family fed who lived in a one room farmhouse. I saw it when I was 5 or 6 It was the size of a bedroom.
Self reliance is the word that mostly comes to mind when seeking discriptors for the man. Although he did also expect it from his own including his sons. My Dad left home when he was 14 and was driving a milk truck. Yes at 14. Milk trucks in 1959 weren't designed for driver comfort and Canadian winters. My Father asked my Grandfather for enough money to buy some gloves so his hands wouldn't freeze. My Grandfather's reply was, "I don't know if you'll pay me back, so no.". My Father never forgave that. Yet the same man crocheted a blanket for each and every one of his grandchildren. Me personaly when I was 9 or 10 he gave me a lasso that the had braided himself it was just child size. I wish I hadn't lost it in my childhood.
I know that I will never truly know the man as a person but he was always kind and good to me and that's all I'll use to measure the man.
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Thank you for your comment on my blog - I really am enjoying my time at home very much. I miss my trocar, though