Memories of Grandpa

This evening I was going through the contacts on my phone and ran across my grandpa’s phone number.  I haven’t had the, I guess you could call it nerve, to remove him from my contact list since he passed this past November.  I know he’s still gone and won’t be there when I go back to visit my grandma, but I can’t bring myself to delete his number.  I feel as if I do wipe it out he will be gone and my memories with it.  I know this isn’t true, but right now that’s how I feel.  I can’t bear to lose the memories he gave me growing up and the lessons he taught me being the great man he was.

Seeing his number and remembering my grandpa got me thinking about the last day I actually talked to him and how wonderful of a day it was.  I had gone back home to run a 5k race with my brother.  I had decided to go a day early so we could go out to my grandparents to visit them for the day.  It was a beautiful fall day with plenty of sunshine and the right amount of warmth to keep you outside as long as possible.  My brother brought his whole family and we were enjoyed a great deal of catching up.  As usual my grandpa asked how everything was going for me and wife back in Chicago, he was always interested in the things we did in Chicago and if we still enjoyed living in the big city.  We sat and talked for a long time about my life in Chicago and after a while we started talking about his new camera he had gotten a little while back and how he was enjoying taking photos of the birds and fields behind their house.

One thing about my grandpa is he could talk forever about the things he loved and the hobbies he loved to do.  After talking about the camera and photos he had taken the family decided to head out to the yard so the kids could play and the adults could enjoy the great evening.  As we stood in the back yard watching the kids run around and take a hay ride the conversation slowed down and we all just stood there taking in the beauty of the moment.  Sure we would start every so often with some small bit of conversation, but for the most part we watched the sun slowly dip behind the trees and enjoyed the presence of our loving family.

This memory of the last conversation and visit with my grandfather will always be part of the many memories I have a great man and  I will always cherish even the small things he taught me through the years.  And for this I cannot bring myself to erase the number I had to be able to get a hold of him whenever I needed.

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