My Pop

This is my Grandfather.

I call him my "Pop". He is the grouchiest most sensitive man I've ever met.

But Jen, how can you say that your Pop is both grouchy and sensitive at the same time?

Because he is.

Lets start by explaining this picture.



That is a marshmallow in his beer. It was put there by my Uncle. Pop had been grouchy all day even though it was his birthday. I really can't blame him though. I would be grouchy if I wasn't able to see any of the people who were there celebrating with me.

You see, my Pop has Macular Degeneration. It a disease that affects his eyesight and its basically like having a blind spot in the center of your eye and side vision is limited. So he can see, but it's very poor. He can tell that it's Kyle and Alyssa by their size but if it was me or my sister he would probably have to ask.
Although my sister is 100 lbs lighter than me, so I don't think you would need Macular Degeneration to tell us apart.

Back to the marshmallow. My Uncle placed it there trying to be a slickster. They have a very playful relationship and they are always playing little tricks on each other. Even with the poor vision, my Pop knew it was there. He is no fool.

In fact he's probably one of the smartest people I know. In his younger days I would watch as he drew me pictures, or built things out of wood. He could build anything, and he was always doing projects around the house. He loved being in the woods searching for a perfect walking stick or working down by our creak clearing the area or building a bridge so we could cross it. His imagination and creativity is endless. I swear I can see the wheels turning in his head and he can precisely plan and vision a project without ever writing it down. We would work on crafts together and he always helped with my school projects. To this day if you mention the words Rube Goldberg, I am flooded with nostalgia as I invision one of the greatest times in my life. Pop and I working in the garage on my Rube Goldberg challenge. Not only was it a brilliant working chain reaction science project, I also won first place in our science fair. My Pop was so proud and he took great pride in everything I did. Everyday, from middle school up until I graduated High School there was a note placed in my lunch from him. From motivational quotes to smiley faces, he always signed it, "love, Pop". And love me he did.

He always asked me about school, inquired about my friends, and he took pride in my band achievements. I was not good at sports and he knew how intimidated I was during gym class in middle school so everytime we learned a new sport, I had a new piece of sports equipment at home so that he could practice with me. He didn't even care that I wasn't good at anything athletic, he just didn't want me to be upset. The finest example of unconditional parenting love I have ever known.

He even taught me how to drive.

Except for this one day, my grandmother (Nan) had to ride with me as I drove to practice my parallel parking at the local school. All was going well and we were just about to pull into the school when I heard her yell from the passengers seat.

Nan: Why the hell are you using both feet to drive an automatic car!?

Me: What do you mean?

Nan: You have your left foot on the gas and the right foot on the break!

Me: That's how Pop taught me. That's how he drives.

And that's how he continued to drive until he stopped driving a few years ago.

He is very sentimental and he gets choked up easily.

He is very safety conscious. Doors and windows are always locked, things that shouldn't be touched are out of sight. He worries about us driving on the roads (still) and he always made sure he knew the exact route we were traveling, just in case he needed to come find us. I know it drives T nuts that I display this same behavior, but I can't help it. I'm a chip off the old Pop.

He also has a unique sense of humor that I understand and appreciate. Dry with a touch of smart-arse.

He is the only father I have ever known and it's probably through his love and willingness to be so involved with me that I have no voids in my life. He is a shining example of the way a Father should be and I am forever thankful for our relationship.