Thanks Grandpa T...

A Letter to Grandpa T...

Although you have been gone from this dimension of life for many years now, I want to tell you that you gave me the confidence to survive by expressing your belief in me when I was a small child.

I'm almost as old now as you were when you used to hold me on your knee and tell me scary stories about hunting bears in the woods. In those days, all the dozens of other grandchildren were afraid of you, but we were always friends. I remember it as if it were yesterday. In fact, you were my first friend in this life. In all the time since, I have never had a better friend.

I just want to take this moment to say thanks for believing in me, for saying that I was a fine boy and for looking out for me in those early days of my childhood when I had no parents. I feel as close to you now as I did all those years ago.

I don't know how it is that the rest of the family didn't see your merits as clearly as I did. I guess they didn't know you. We had a special bond.

As a kid, I recall your being strong, your being a character, and your driving the car really fast. I remember you didn't put up with bull, and you walked alone for the most part. Yet, you always made time for me, and you always let me know that I was worthy, that I was a fine boy, and that I was going to be somebody, someday.

Looking back over my life I realize that you never gave me any instructions whatsoever regarding what I should or should not do. You left that up to me. You merely championed who I was as a person. In that little small town where you lived, people always used to tell me I was my grandfather's favorite grandchild. At the time, that didn't mean too much. I just figured it was adults being goofy. I now know they were telling the truth.

Although I don't suppose I turned out to be "somebody" in the grand scheme of things, if you were here now, I'm sure you would be telling people that I was somebody.

Thanks grandpa ... for everything ... for believing in me when nobody else did.