This is my Pap-Pa. He's freaking awesome. He's the first person that I ever saw, real or fictional, that was a genuine bad-ass. I looked up to this veritable force of nature. He was always powering through some project, be it gardening, home improvements, woodwork, car repair, power tool maintenance, or just fiddling and trying to improve some gadget. He was never still. He is also the reason that I'm not some dullard that's barely getting by. He knew my potential and he'd be damned to have a grandson that's a dumb-ass. He instilled in me a love of math and science that still exists today. I also think that my humor and creativity is an extension of him from all his projects and one line zingers. Yes, he was a rough and gruff old man, but that was just Pap-Pa. He showed his love in ways that you might have to interpret through his aggressive nature, which he expressed often, so you know he loved greatly and passionately. I know he had a heavy hand in shaping me into the man I am today. I don't think that I would be as moral, creative, funny, intelligent, and have such a strong work ethic without him.
Yes, as you may have gathered from my use of the past tense, my Pap-Pa has just moved on from this world. He was 92, so we were the luckiest damn people to have him for so long! Now, I don't want you to comment with your "sorrys" and such. That's not the Pap-Pa way. I want you to tell me your favorite memory of Pap-Pa. Let's smile and laugh. If you never got the chance to know this awesome dude, just post your favorite curse word. That was one of his ways of say "I love you". Even his overly exaggerated yawns were punctuated by them "*YAAAAAAWN* Hell." I'm gonna miss hearing that. Thankfully, I can do a spot-on impression of them. ^_^
Speaking of curse words, here's my story: Mam-Ma collected VHS movies. Like, literal thousands. Because of her, I got to experience a vast world of genres, my favorite of course, horror. I was watching a horror movie at their place one day, and as you know there's quite a bit of vulgarities in those kinds of movies. After a scene that was dropping the F-Bomb quite a bit, Pap-Pa turned to Mam-Ma and exclaimed, "By god, why the HELL are you letting him watch this DAMN crap?! He doesn't need to hear that SHIT!" I smiled silently to myself.
Well, hell, Pap-Pa (that means 'I love you, Pap-Pa'; also 'well, hell' was his and my absolute favorite phrase).
Thank you for everything.
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