February 22, 2013
Gramps, I can't wait to meet you...
My grandpa, Larry Neal Willard, was born on January 23, 1937 and died on February 12, 2013.
It's only hearsay, but apparently he was in a real gang in southern California as a teenager. Someday I'm going to have to pry for some of these stories...
My grandma and grandpa got married in May 1957 when she was 17 and he was 20. Apparently, my grandma would tell my grandpa if a guy looked at her funny, and he would go beat him up. Ha!
My grandpa had cancer, so we knew that he was going to go. I hated to think that he was suffering a slow death, but I'm very thankful that we had time to spend with him and that we were able to soak up the last few months. He fought hard until the end and kept his sense of humor the whole way through, although he was kind of a bossy patient.
His burial and memorial service were great for me. I heard so many stories from friends and family about his childhood and youth. My grandpa's younger brother loved model airplanes, and after my grandpa shot all of them down with his BB gun, he paid him back so he could get more. He paid his younger siblings to run around in the backyard so he could shoot them with his BB gun (he promised not to aim for their heads). He played pretty much every sport imaginable and taught many, many people to play tennis. He coached. He was involved in starting the church that we went to as kids, and knew his Bible inside and out. He built houses for his friends and made upgrades for free. He loved his family very much.
It was great to hear all of these stories about my grandpa because I don't have very many memories of my own. I have a few though:
- I remember him taking me to the grocery store and letting me push around the child-sized cart... it was pretty much the coolest thing in the world. I even got to put stuff in it and take it back to their house to eat. I'm sure it was cookies or ice cream or something.
- I remember going over to Grandma's and Grandpa's house to spend the night. Grandma had already gone to bed and my sister and I were kicked back on the couch watching TV. It was probably 10:00, which was late for us. My Grandpa would go to bed and tell us not to stay up past 2 am. We were so excited that we could stay up all night, but of course we were passed out about ten minutes later.
- Almost every Sunday after church, we would head up to my grandpa's and grandma's for lunch. He always made some wonderful concoction of comfort food (I make many of his recipes because they're SO yummo): pot roast, Spanish noodles, twice-baked potatoes, the BEST deviled eggs, and many, many more. He loved it when we would all come over and spend time together as a family.
- I've always been proud that I'm the only one (out of his kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids) who has his blue eyes.
I've been told that my grandpa used to come pick my sister and I up to spend time with us and go do fun Grandpa/Grandkid stuff. One day (I must have been about five years old) my mom smelled alcohol on his breath when he came to get us. She told my dad when he got home. From what I hear, my dad was obviously (and rightly) pretty upset and told my grandpa not to come back if he was drinking.
He never came back.
During the next 20 years, my grandpa struggled with alcoholism. He was at every family event, but he wasn't always "there." And it was normal for us. I never really questioned it, but when I got older, I realized that he had a problem and understood why he was distant. Even through all of this, there have never been any hard feelings; I have always appreciated my grandpa's presence. And looking back on it, his being at birthday parties, holiday celebrations, and weddings means a lot knowing what he was fighting each and every day.
These last few months, I have begun to realize what I've missed out on. I've felt sad of course that he would be gone from this earth soon, but I've also felt discouraged because we never really got to have the relationship I would have loved. I hate that we weren't as close as I would have liked, but after hearing all of the stories about the man my grandpa truly was, my heart is happy. My heart also longs to know the man that my aunts and uncles knew. But praise God that he is with Jesus, and he is not tempted by alcohol any longer!
As I listened to the stories about my grandpa, I couldn't believe how much my dad resembles his dad; in personality, behavior, you name it. Then I realized how thankful I am that my girls will get to have a solid relationship with their grandpa... that he will be present and in their lives. I am so happy for my girls. And I can't wait to get to Heaven to meet the grandpa I never fully knew.
I hope he teaches me to play tennis.
I love you Gramps. I will see you soon. Until then...
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1 comments:
Aww. Im glad i had the chance to meet him on several occasions, aaand got to eat lunch at their house after church too :)
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