For Grandpa

Grandpa,

Tired face, with wrinkles displaying the badges of wisdom time has gently painted on

Stern, yet gentle because when your life story has chapters titled Great Depression and World War 2, fighting for the life you have been given becomes second nature.

Yet it does not mean you are too strong to love,  because the following chapters read 60 years of marriage to Marilyn Lavaughn Wyatt, 5 beautiful children, the grandchildren and great-grandchildren that followed.

Many a golf swings taken on dewy mornings by a noble silhouette of a man who shares walks with God, laughs at newspaper jokes and takes advantage of books rather than technology

Because knowledge and imagination partnered with worn pages, the smell of paper, and the touch of a page can never be replaced .

My nose comforted by the smell of coffee brewing on holiday get togethers’ because it meant you were there.

An old pink vest and little pink pj’s sewn with your steady hands still kept safe, top shelf in my closet

Bow and arrows remind me of Robin Hood adventures in your backyard,

Where snowy days were spent sledding with Luke and Dan on the hill that the water tower claimed

And anytime I would see that water tower in the distance it would bring me back to those days at grandpa and grandma’s house

The back yard where every Mother’s Day my clothes were marked with little dirt hand prints from wiping the soil off, until they were put into gloves 2x too big because that day we all became gardeners , filling every pot and flower bed with newly petalled blossoms

Sipping lemonade on the red painted deck, and eating applesauce cake.. with raisins that I used to pick out, because I just wanted to taste the moist goodness and creamy hershey frosting. Funny how  I don’t pick the raisins out now, probably because with age I have learned to appreciate the little things.

I have always admired your unconditional love for Grandma, especially in a day and age where it seems love is only given when convenient.

You truly set an example that love lasts through anything and holds true even in the hardest of times.. because although her lips stay quiet and her mind is tangled in the web dimensia has weaved, she is still the same beautiful women your heart found companion with and her heart is still the one holding your hearts hand.

And now your body may be weaker, as cancer has made it’s home.. but I will never see anything less than the strong-willed man I have always seen in you Grandpa.

As a child I would look up to you in a literal sense, at the face with a jawbone defined in character and a laugh that was at its best when you would tell jokes at Holiday dinners

Not much has changed now because these brown eyes still look up to you, but not with the child like tilt of my head because you have always been taller.

Rather, I look up to you because your faith, passion, respect, honor, and love make you that much taller than me and I see how much room I have to grow from your example.

I have never really told you exactly how much you mean to me and I wish I could tell you in person, but I just wanted you to know… I love you Grandpa, always and forever will.

Love ,

Amanda Rose