My Grandad

"Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace." Psalm 37:37

 October 2006- Grandad, 90 with Precious, 22 months

Last Wednesday, at sunrise, my Grandad (Grandaddy R's father) peacefully crossed the river to life everlasting.  We will miss his stories and lessons, his friendly quirkiness, his practicality, and the incredible knowledge that he had gathered and shared over his 97 rich years.

In my mind, I keep going over some of the lessons that he methodically gave us.  Here are a few:

• 52 miles per hour is not only a safe speed, but the most efficient speed for the car.  70 is extremely inefficient (and yes, quite unsafe).  Anyone stuck behind him probably thought he was slow; what they didn't know was that he was giving them exceptional gas mileage.
• Don't go into debt.  Just don't.  He lived through the Great Depression, working in the Civilian Conservation Corps.  This experience made him extremely frugal and wise in his investments.
• And I'm sure there are some math, physics, and electronics lessons buried somewhere in the back of my mind.  I didn't fully understand them at the time, and I might not, even today.  But to teach, for him, was as natural as breathing.

His greatest lesson was his example.  He lived his life in such a principled way.  When things went wrong, he fixed them.   If there was a problem that he could invent a solution to, he did.  He treated people with respect, and they respected him.  He knew how to cast his bread on the water and watch it return.

There was a time several years ago, when my grandad would call my dad up and chat for hours.  My dad dropped whatever he was working on and chatted with his dad.  My dad knew there would be a time when Grandad wouldn't have the energy or presence of mind to chat for hours.  Parents are an amazing gift, and my dad recognized this.

When my other grandad passed away almost eight years ago, Longfellow's Psalm of Life was most fitting.  I have been inspired beyond my comprehension at the lives of my grandads.  And so I quote, again.

Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;

Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.