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Papa
Everyone
should have a grandfather like Papa.
Everyone should have a grandfather who is patient and
encouraging. A grandfather who welcomes visits from his
grandchildren, whether they are wearing soggy diapers
or garbed in the nonconformist uniforms of adolescence.
A grandfather who claps and cheers during every “play” and
performance that his grandchildren can collaborate and
choreograph during their summer vacations.
A grandfather who patiently listens while the ABCs are recited
for the umpteenth time,
long after the parents’ tolerance for this novelty has worn
thin.
A grandfather who will guide a six-year-old’s fingers around a
pencil and enthusiastically
listens to the fascinating story of Dick and Jane.
Every child should have a grandfather who believes you are the
perfect angel, regardless of how your mother has proof to
confirm otherwise. A grandfather who, when assigned the duty of
babysitting while is wife and grown daughters go out to the
movies, allows all of his grandchildren to stay up way past
bedtime, so that they can enjoy themselves building blanket
“tents” in the formal dining room, while he risks, (and
receives!) the consequences from their mothers when they return
from the theater.
Every child should have a grandfather who makes a special
occasion of stamping your chubby little hands in the wet cement
when he builds a new sidewalk in his back yard. A grandfather
who scrutinizes his garden at the end of your visit to ensure
that you will have the most ripe and juicy tomatoes to take back
home. A grandfather who sends you a dollar every 4th of July
(his favorite holiday as it reminds him of his Naturalization)
so that you will specifically buy yourself a watermelon to
celebrate that day.
Every teenage girl should have a grandfather who approves of her
latest miniskirt, even though, during the previous generation he
forbade her mother from wearing shorts or even nail polish.
Every teenage boy should have a grandfather who defends his
right to protest the current war, even though that same
grandfather was proud to have his own sons enlist to serve
during WWII.
Every adult should have a grandfather who was respected and
loved by neighbors and friends, so that, long after his death,
when you return to live in the town where he had lived fifty
years previously, and the “old timers” learn that you are his
grandchild, they are eager to share their happy remembrances of
him.
Everyone should have a grandfather like Papa.
An excerpt from Where the Red Tailed Hawk Flies
Copyright 1984 by Gabriella Graham/Red Tailed Hawk Publishing |
