My Aunt Janis wrote a beautiful speech, and just as when my grandmother died a little over a year ago, she made it through it well. I hope to have that fortitude one day. She says that many years from now, the expectation is that I speak for her. Yikes. I'll have to start preparing now.
But I wanted to speak about Grandpa. I wanted to tell everyone there how I felt about him. So I will tell you now.
Our family is extraordinary and it is my grandparents' most important legacy. They would have it no other way. They had four lovely children who married lovely people (and stayed married to them). Each couple had two children (a girl and a boy). And now, in December the youngest of those children will be 21. Most of those grandchildren are married. And all of the married grandchildren (but me) have their own children. Nine great grandchildren.
We joke that for Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter we will have to start renting the Wise County Convention Center to accommodate everyone comfortably. But that's only my "immediate" family. That doesn't count my cousins from Arkansas and my great aunt's family who we are so close to that we don't make picky distinctions like "first cousin", "second cousin", etc. We are just cousins...family. My husband, from a relatively small family, wants a score card to keep up at the larger gatherings...and we have been a couple for almost 15 years.
That is my grandparents' legacy. And I am so grateful for each person.
My grandfather is known as Groucho to most people, a nickname bestowed on him by my uncles when they were still in school...long before there were grandchildren. I have never called him that. He's always been Grandpa to me. But the rest of the family and many others around Bridgeport called him Groucho.
He was a patriot, a member of the Greatest Generation, a proud Marine. He served his nation in World War II in the South Pacific. He never talked about it a lot, but he was so grateful to have been able to give his service to his country and he enjoyed spending time with other veterans.
He was strict and it was devastating to think of disappointing him or my grandmother. My brother and I both agree that was the best discipline possible. "Will this disappoint my grandparents?" If so, then it wasn't worth it.
He didn't have little pet names for each one of us. No, not "Groucho." He called us all "good for nuthin'." But you knew when he said it just by the tone of voice and the chuck you usually got under the chin that you were far from good for nothing. You were everything.
He smoked a pipe and chawed tobacco my whole life and I'm sure many years before. The tobacco grossed me out; I won't lie. But the smell of that pipe comforted me like no other smell. The holes in all his jackets and shirts as we went through his clothes this week gave me a giggle. The embers from his pipe were always escaping.
I only remember dancing with my grandfather once. We were at a family reunion about 8 years ago now. I have a great picture of the two of us laughing as we tried to be graceful together. It is one of my most precious memories and possessions.
Our family is a symbol of love. We aren't finished growing and though they can no longer be with us, my grandparents are so glad to be together again, to watch us all. And while I miss them more than I can ever explain to you, I am so grateful for that.
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