Grandpa

My Grandpa is the kind of man who everyone seems to know, or know of.... He was a preacher (the best I've seen/heard, and I've heard a lots of good preaching!).

He was what you might call "strict". He had very high standards for himself, his children, his grandchildren, your children, you... you get the picture. I remember learning about "the fear of the Lord" and wondering why we should fear someone that was supposed to be so loving, who wanted only the best for us, who was so perfect and good...? And I don't remember if someone told me this or I just came up with it on my own (at roughly 6 years of age), but my Grandpa became an example of "holy fear" at work. I knew he loved me, but I also knew he'd spank me if I stepped out of line. He was a no nonsense kind of guy.

Then there was a completely different side of him; the one I'd see whenever my Grandma walked into the room. He suddenly turned to sappy mush. He called her "mama", "sugar", "sweetheart", "my bride", and others I'm sure, I just can't think of them right now... And have you ever seen a couple in their sixties with the wife sitting on the husband's lap while watching t.v. or reading the paper? How bout seeing a man in his 70s pat his wife on the bottom? They were the PERFECT example of a love that never ends... They were so much in love and it was so obvious. He adored her. I don't know how many times he had to propose to her before she finally said yes. They were like something you think would only exist in movies.

He was also very generous. When I took Juan for the "meet the family" trip the first time, his car broke down in Los Angeles and he didn't have the cash to get it fixed. He was going to try to arrange to have it towed to Fresno, I believe, but without telling Juan my Grandpa had taken care of it. Had it repaired and paid for it all. He did things like this regularly... and usually quietly. He also generously offered to pay to have my tattoos removed, but that's a different story...

He was a huge sports fan! He came to several of my & Sarah's basketball games (mostly Sarah's since she played a lot longer than I did and was MUCH better), and keep in mind they lived in Long Beach at the time and we are in Fresno. He did the same for all of our cousins. He was present and supportive and motivating, and sometimes a bit vocal (which my Dad obviously picked up, which you'd know if you'd ever been to one of my or my sisters' games/meets).

He was also a man of routine. Same breakfast every day (half of a grapefruit), read the paper cover to cover (in near silence), had the same food in the fridge/cupboard/pantry every time we went to visit (I know that's probably more Grandma than Grandpa, but still). We could always count on individually wrapped mini boxes of breakfast cereal, home-made chex mix, and raisin bread.

He knew a lot about a lot and taught me some about some...

He was very special to me. My most treasured picture w/ him was when I was about 4 years old and I was sitting on his lap while he read me a story... If I can find it, I'll post it later...