Take as many pictures as you can because pictures truly do say a thousand words. This is the only picture that I have of my grandfather on my dad's side, and I cherish it.
I no longer have any of my grandparents, and I haven't had any of them since I was in college. I thought about my grandpa specifically today because Father's Day is coming up.
Grandpa was a simple man, but also kind and took the time to spend with you. All of the memories I have with him are nothing but fond ones. He showed me how to fish, and the only fish I caught, a bluegill, was with him. He laughed and was proud of me. He listened as I told him about my baseball games and showed him how I throw my different pitches, and he took interest in the story lines of my Goosebump books.
When we visited him every Christmas season, we usually watched a Christmas movie and ate lunch. He lived in a modest trailer home with his second wife and his dog, but it was cozy and a place I was never quick to leave. I remember watching A Christmas Story for the first time there, and recall him saying how he liked watching that movie. We watched the Northwestern Rose Bowl game there and my dad and him talked about it all the way through.
My grandpa was a smart man. He received a patent for an invention of a lawnmower remodel for the elderly. It allowed you to simply rest on the handle instead of pushing the mower. He also served as a mechanic for Eastern Airlines for years, and my dad said that he could fix anything.
One of my earliest memories I have of him was when he would take me to the pond near his first home and he let me feed the ducks. Things just seemed so simple then, and that's such a soothing memory for me.
The last memory I have of him is saying that we should go fishing sometime, but we never did 'sometime.' Life tends to get in the way, for better or for worse. But the memories we have of him are special, and we will hold on to those forever.
I'm glad I can hold on to this one photograph because it reminds me of how special my grandfather was this upcoming Father's Day. So make sure you take lots of photographs because as Ringo Starr's song "Photograph" says, "Ev'ry time I see your face/It reminds me of the places we used to go/But all I've got is a photograph/And I realise you're not coming back anymore."
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