Sunday was my grandfather’s eightieth birthday. He is a father, grandfather, great-grandfather, painter, gardener, woodworker, Marine; there are many facets to the man I affectionately call Pop-Pop. I love my Pop-Pop dearly and have an unusual yet special bond with him. I have lived with him my entire life (minus college and the two years Steve and I spent as a married couple at Saunder’s Woods) and he has always been more of a father figure to me. The past few years have been hard on his health, and I know he was determined to make it to eighty, a milestone his own father was just one year shy of hitting.
The past year has been even more special to me, in that Pop-Pop has been able to begin a relationship with Cutter, his only great-grandson that he has ever met. He has three of them. Cutter may not remember these early days with Pop-Pop, but I sure do. My grandfather plays with him, talks with him, and shares his love with him, daily. I love my Pop-Pop very much and am so glad that I get to be with him every day.
The past year has been even more special to me, in that Pop-Pop has been able to begin a relationship with Cutter, his only great-grandson that he has ever met. He has three of them. Cutter may not remember these early days with Pop-Pop, but I sure do. My grandfather plays with him, talks with him, and shares his love with him, daily. I love my Pop-Pop very much and am so glad that I get to be with him every day.
We had a small celebration of close family with a little early Thanksgiving dinner. Cutter even joined us for dinner at his highchair rounding out our fourth generation at the table.
Unfortunately, I think we will need to work on exposing him to many more rounds of Happy Birthday before his party in February. As evidenced in the video below, he did not enjoy our singing – at all.
The Genn family, all four generations represented
Erin and Pop-Pop dancing the night away
No comments:
Post a Comment