Sam and Christena: 1933
My Grandmother passed away in 1976, so most of my memories of my grandfather are without her. He spent the next 20 years missing her greatly. He talked about her often. Through his eyes, I knew her as a beautiful and strong woman.
He had a small picture on the wall (it may have been a painting) of her when she was about this age. Even though I remembered my grandmother much older and without her hair (chemotherapy treatments), I was always very aware that this was the picture my grandfather visualized when he talked about her.
Grandpa Sam was a card. He always wore pin-striped overalls and he liked to fish. Better than that, he liked to tell fish stories. All kinds of stories, actually. Much of my time with grandpa was spent trying to decide just how hard he was pulling my leg. I'd watch him go breathless with laughter before he even got to the punchline, and I never quite knew if I should laugh, as well, or nod my head as if I seriously understood.
When I was about ten, Grandpa brought me home a dog, Popo, a little silver poodle. The dog had been intended as a gift for Grandpa, of course. It wasn't long before the relatives in Iowa sent him home with a second dog, a small terrier named Tara. Grandpa resisted, but Tara soon became Grandpa's best gal pal. She went everywhere with Grandpa. She had her own special seat in his car and in the winter she would burrow under a blanket on her seat in the car and wait for him while he was in church.
When Grandpa said, "give me some love," Tara would stand up on Grandpa's lap and nuzzle his neck. She got a little bit fat from Grandpa's spoiling, but she was a good companion for him for many years.
1 comment:
Great description. I got a good sense of who your grandfather was - and how much he missed his wife.
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